ribs are a cage (of a wild heart)
by Tarafina
Summary: A year and a half ago, Felicity nearly died in a fire. Still healing, her life changes even more when she's bitten by a strange animal in the woods. Before she knows it, she's got a feud with the full moon; a boy she thought she loved and lost is not-so-dead; and her sleepy town is being terrorized by a bloodthirsty monster. [teen wolf au olicity]
1. Chapter 1

**word count** : 13,200  
 **chapter rating** : pg-13  
 **summary** : (teen wolf AU) Two years ago, Felicity Smoak nearly died in a fire that stole the lives of two of her friends and their entire family. Still recovering, her life changes even more when she's bitten by a strange animal in the woods. Before she knows it, she's got a feud with the full moon; a boy she thought she loved and lost is not-so-dead; and her sleepy town is being terrorized by a bloodthirsty monster.

* * *

 **-1-**

Felicity should have been sleeping. It was after eleven and tomorrow was the first day back at school, so she _definitely_ should have been sleeping. She wasn't, though. Instead, she was on her computer, her eyes a little itchy from staring at a screen for so long, while she... Well, _hacked_ was such an ugly word. But, _technically_ , that was what she was doing. Specifically, she was hacking the DMV. More specifically, because her mother's license was expired and, no matter how many times Felicity pointed it out, Donna said she just 'didn't have enough time' to get it updated. Which was code for 'I don't want to stand in line at all, ever.' Felicity was also half sure that she didn't mind having an expired license because that meant that Sheriff Lance, who Donna wasted no opportunity to flirt with, would have to pull her over, again, for the third time this week. But, Felicity had a plan, and that was to make sure her mother's interest in her best friend's dad didn't get her hauled away to jail anytime soon. Sure, Sheriff Lance was a good guy, but he could only ignore the letter of the law so many times. Which is why Felicity had doctored a new ID for her mother and was now hacking the DMV to make it that much more legitimate.

She was just finishing up when she heard a noise outside her house that made her pause. Usually, she was so in the zone that an entire cyclone could take off the roof and she wouldn't notice. But, that wasn't the case. In part because she was basically exiting out of the windows she had open for her hacking, so her head was back on normal things like when the last time the small town of Starling had seen a serial killer... While attempting to recall the crime stats that Sara liked to inform her of on a weekly basis (just for funsies), Felicity heard another noise coming from the trellis that climbed the side of the house, giving prime access to the porch roof sitting right under Felicity's open and vulnerable window.

Backing away from her computer, she stood and shuffled toward her closet. Having never been into sports, it wasn't like she had a baseball bat hidden away for a situation like this. She did, however, have a long, empty, cardboard tube for the schematics on a robot her and Barry were building over the summer, sans said schematics, thankfully. Picking it up, she carefully tip-toed toward her window, her nerves shot and her stomach tied up in knots. Vaguely, she thought that maybe, instead of confronting whatever murderous psychopath was attempting to break into her house and violently kill her, she could have called Sara's dad. But, it was too late for that now.

So, when a hand landed on the window ledge, she gave a war cry, and _attacked_. She slammed her cardboard tube down against their hands and let out an angry, hopefully scary, shriek.

"Ow! What the freaking hell, Smoaky? Did you just try to break my fingers? Are you _crazy?_ "

Felicity paused. "Sara?" She poked her head out the window to find her best friend crouched on the roof, ringing out her hand and rubbing at her knuckles. Wincing, Felicity dropped the tube. "Sorry! I— I thought you were a serial killer."

"So, you attacked me with a science project?" Sara looked up and tipped her head, looking amused. "You'd have better luck babbling them to death."

"Hey, _rude_." She frowned. "What're you doing here so late? We have school tomorrow."

Sara lit up. "I heard something on my scanner—"

"You mean your dad's _old_ scanner that you stole and keep in your room and listen to even though he's told you not to like a million times?"

"Yeah, that one." She nodded. "Anyway, there's a body in the woods. So, I guess that whole serial killer thing wasn't totally off the mark."

"A _body?_ " Felicity's gaze jumped past her toward the treeline. "Who was it? Do they know?"

"Not yet." She shrugged. "The whole force was called in and they're bringing in State police to check it out, too. Right now, nobody's allowed to get too close. So, I thought... we should go see for ourselves."

"What?" Felicity's voice squeaked. "You want to go into the dark, creepy woods at night so we can find a _dead_ body? Have you ever watched a horror movie!? Rhetorical, I already know you have because we have a monthly 'scare Felicity' movie-thon."

"That's what _you_ call it, I just call it ' _fun_.'" Sara smiled. "Anyway, you don't have to come if you don't want to, but I'm definitely going."

"What if your dad catches you?"

"I know where he'll be, so I'll keep out of sight." She moved toward the edge of the porch roof. "Did I mention they only found _half_ the body? That means there's another half just hidden somewhere out there..."

"Sara..." Felicity chewed on her lip, watching her friend grab onto the lattice to start her way down. Worry and uncertainty bubbled up in Felicity's stomach. For as long as she'd known Sara, which was basically kindergarten, she'd always jumped into everything with both feet. She rarely asked questions, content to just let things happen as they did. Felicity was not like that. She didn't like mysteries. She liked planning. But, what kind of plan could she prepare for going into the woods to find half of a dead body? All she knew for sure was that Sara was definitely going to do this and she shouldn't do it alone.

"Wait for me..."

Sara grinned, like she knew it was just inevitable that Felicity would tag along. And, really, it _was_ inevitable. Wherever Sara went, so went Felicity's nation. Turning on her heel, she walked back into her room and traded her Snoopy pajamas for a pair of jeans and a long-sleeve shirt. Grabbing up a jacket, she made her way downstairs, dug around in the kitchen utility drawer for a flashlight, grabbed her boots from the front door, and met Sara on the porch.

Sitting on the railing, swinging her legs, Sara hopped down as soon as the front door closed. "Ready for an adventure, Smoaky-Smoak?"

Felicity rolled her eyes, but she could admit that, on the inside, there was a little bit of excitement starting to build up. Much as she knew this was a bad idea, much like most of Sara's last-minute adventures were, there was a part of her that was glad Sara was exactly who she was, and that she was Felicity's friend. It meant that instead of spending her entire life in front of a computer screen, she had a little more going on. Sara dragged her out of the house and reminded her there was a whole world out there, just waiting for her to greet it. Even if it had a severed body hiding in the woods.

"You know this is crazy, right?" Felicity followed Sara over to her sunflower yellow VW Bug. "Not only is your dad probably going to catch us, but the only way a body ends up in two pieces is if someone else _makes_ it."

"It could be more than two pieces. They found the bottom half, but, who knows how many pieces the top half is in." Sara pulled on her seat belt as she started the car, the stereo coming alive with upbeat pop music.

Felicity reached over to turn it down. "You found out there's a dead body and you thought a little Katy Perry would get you in the mood for searching the woods for a body?"

"My layers have layers." Sara pulled her car out onto the road and started toward the highway. "I hope you're ready for a hike. The body was found pretty deep in the woods."

"Great, just what I wanted to do the night before senior year. I can't wait to fall into a patch of poison ivy; it'll really make my week."

Sara snorted. "I can't be held responsible for your lack of balance."

With a huff, Felicity hunkered down in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest. "We don't even have any weapons. If we run into the murderer, we'll have to rely on our ability to scream."

"I've got a mean scream." She shrugged and then added, "Also, I have mace, a rape whistle, and a stun gun..."

Felicity eyed her. "Your dad gave you a stun gun?"

"I _borrowed_ the stun gun... Mom gave me the mace and rape whistle forever ago."

Felicity had a rape whistle on her key chain, also a gift from her own mother. She didn't trust herself with mace; she had a feeling she'd end up hitting herself with it before any perpetrator. Never mind what she might accidentally do with a stun gun. "Have you ever used it?"

"Nah. But, there's a first time for everything."

Felicity shook her head.

* * *

The woods were eerie during the day, but that was nothing compared to night. Gnarled, skeletal branches that blotted out much of the moon; damp earth with clumps of twigs and leaves; the skittering sound of animal feet moving around out of sight. Even with the flashlight in her hand, she felt like she was tripping over everything. Upturned tree roots kept catching on her feet while reaching twigs pulled at her jeans and her shirt. Rustling bushes seemed to follow them as they moved through the trees. Sara didn't seem the least bit put out. Climbing up on fallen trees, using large boulders as jump off points, swinging herself around on low-hanging branches. She was a mini-Tarzan.

"How are you not freaking out right now? There's a killer on the loose. Probably somewhere in these woods. And you're running around like a wood nymph."

Sara came to an abrupt stop next to Felicity and hip-bumped her, sending her careening a few inches to the left. "Lighten up. With all the sirens and the lights, whoever killed them took off. Besides, it could've been an animal. Or it was something dumb, like they fell in the river, drowned, and were swept right over Star Falls. They were probably severed in half by all the rocks at the bottom."

" _Or_ some psychopath is out here cutting people in half in some kind of crazy, ritualistic murdering spree and this is just the first we're hearing about it."

"That's a possibility, too." Sara grinned. "Look, we're better in numbers, right? So, as long as we stick together—"

"Who's out there?"

A flashlight beam turned in their direction and both girls darted in opposite directions, hiding behind the nearest tree. Felicity turned her own flashward inward, pressing the light against her stomach to block it, and then reached up to cover her mouth, trying her hardest not to make a sound. The flashlight moved around slowly, searchingly, but never landed on either of them. Eventually, it moved on, and she turned her head toward Sara, who was grinning.

Felicity shook her head, but Sara started moving. "Come on. We have to be close to the body."

"Which part?" Still, Felicity followed after her, moving through the trees, her eyes darting around worriedly. In the distance, she could hear dogs barking and the din of multiple voices.

"It can't be that far from the bottom half, right?" Sara shrugged.

"We don't know that. It could be on the other side of the forest for all we know..." Felicity hurried her steps to catch up, but her foot down on a branch and she tumbled forward. She hit the wet ground, hard, her knees radiating a jolt of pain up her legs and her glasses falling from her face. In the same instance, her flashlight hit a rock and broke, leaving them in the dark.

"Frack," Felicity muttered and started feeling around, finding cold, wet dirt and soggy leaves. "Sara? I lost my glasses..."

There was no answer.

Felicity lifted her head and squinted around, but all she was blurry tree trunks. "Sara?" she called out, her voice still a little hushed.

Suddenly, barking caught her attention, and Felicity's head swivelled to the right.

"Dad!" she heard in a familiar voice, and her heart sunk into her stomach. She ducked down, hiding as best she could.

"Sara, what the hell are you doing out here?" Sheriff Lance demanded.

"Uh..."

"You were listening on that old scanner again, weren't you? Do you have any idea how dangerous it is that you're out here right now?"

"It's not that big a deal. It's just a body. Or, _half_ a body."

"Uh-huh. Well, fun's over. You need to get home, and take your little sidekick, too..." He paused. "Where is she?"

"Felicity? Back home sleeping, I'd guess. It's the first day of school tomorrow. You think she'd let me talk her into coming out here? You know how she is about school."

Unconvinced, Sheriff Lance started shouting, "Felicity...? If you're out there, it's time to come out... Felicity?"

Felicity bit down on her lip. On the one hand, she absolutely wanted to step out, apologize, and catch a ride home. On the other hand, if she stepped out now, Sara's dad would know she lied, and the last thing she wanted to do was get her friend in trouble. Sure, it was mostly Sara's fault she was out there in the first place. But, well, she didn't _have_ to go with her. So, she didn't come out. She figured, at worst, she'd just find her way back to where Sara parked her car and catch a ride back home.

"All right, come on. We're gonna take a walk to your car and talk about this danger streak of yours. 'Cause seriously, honey, you're gonna give me an early heart attack, you keep this stuff up..."

As their voices faded, Felicity let out a slow breath. She turned herself over and started feeling around the ground again, searching for her glasses with gentle but worried hands, patting at the ground for any sign of where they might be. She moved forward on her knees, still looking, when she felt it, the distinct crunch under her knee.

"No... _No, no, no_..." She sat back and dug under her knee, pulling out her now mangled pair of glasses. She held them up to her face, but it was pointless. They were wrecked. Sighing, long and loud, she pushed herself up from the ground, and looked around.

The flashlights that hadn't looked that far away were now nowhere to be seen. They must've changed direction, meaning she was officially _alone_. Except, not alone. Because there were definitely animals out there, and possibly a bloodthirsty killer. Well, she assumed bloodthirsty. Somebody didn't sever someone in half for no reason. Not that any reason was a _good_ reason. But, she supposed whoever did it was probably convinced there was a why, a _good_ why, for what they'd done. She couldn't even begin to get into the head of a killer. Her pet gold fish died when she was eight and she'd blamed herself for overfeeding it. She wouldn't even _look_ at another fish for at least a year. Sara gave her a pet rock when she was nine because she couldn't kill it, but then Felicity went and _lost_ it, which she'd apologized for profusely. So yeah, killing someone was just not in her range of abilities.

Neither, apparently, was navigating the dark woods without glasses.

The very eerie woods, that seemed to echo with hooting and howling, a burst of cold wind rustling branches and leaves all around her. Her heart pounded hard in her chest, her clammy hands shaking, and her legs feeling like jelly under her. Felicity picked up her pace, moving in what she hoped was the direction of the highway. Maybe Sara was waiting for her. She seriously hoped so, because there was no way she was going to find her way home like this.

Coming to a stop in a clearing, she took a second, squinting all around her. There was a weird fog beginning to roll in and, for a second, it almost felt the ground was shaking underneath her. But, that was weird. Why would—

Suddenly, deer were running toward her, maneuvering through the trees, hooves pounding the ground beneath them. Terrified, they were leaping and bounding, knocking into each other as they ran. Felicity shrieked and darted to the side, but was clipped in the hip. She fell to the ground and rolled, coming to a stop as she hit a tree. Groaning, she stayed there, pushing herself as close to the tree trunk as she could get, pulling her knees up to her chest to make herself as small as possible. The deer ran past her, one after the other, until finally, they were gone, and she was left alone once more. Her heart in her throat and her hip throbbing with pain.

"Never again," she said. "I am _never_ letting Sara talk me into going _anywhere_. Not even to Big Belly. Nope. She is cut _off_. Our friendship is going to strictly be school only. In fact..." She stood up, dusting off her knees as she went, "I'm never leaving the house again. I'll become a hermit. Just me and my computers. I can get groceries delivered, right? There's an app for that. There's an app for everything! And I can just work online. Or hack into some questionable billionaire's bank account somewhere, just take what I need to live off of. That's _barely_ a crime. It's not like a billionaire needs to worry about what I'll be spending on take out. And I'll pick a really bad one, too. Like, kicks puppies and hates orphans. There's gotta be a few of those out there, right?"

Her voice seemed to echo between the trees and a shiver ran down her spine, wariness bubbling up inside her. Hugging her arms around herself, she started walking again, her vision too fuzzy to make out much more than large, ominous _blobs_ everywhere. Digging around in her jeans, she pulled out her phone. Sara had to be back at her car by now, right? Would it be weird if she called? Sara had told the Sheriff she was at home, sleeping. It'd look suspicious if she called now, right? Her thumb was hovering over the phone emblem next to Sara's name when her leg hit something. Felicity stumbled forward but caught herself before she could fall. She turned her phone back, the screen lit up enough to show her—

A body.

Or half of a body.

A ghoulish face stuck mid-scream, mouth open and eyes a glassy white.

Felicity yelped and jumped backwards, only to realize she was standing next to a hill. Losing her balance, she fell, tumbling feet over her head and rolling until she hit the ground in a heap. Moaning, she laid there a moment, feeling a throbbing pain in her shoulder and her hip, and closing her eyes against how her mind felt like it was spinning. "Worst. Night. _Ever_."

Sighing, she reached around, digging through the brush for her phone. She sat up and realized the screen was still lit up, the phone a good ten feet up the hill, laying in the leaves. Rolling over onto her knees, she pushed herself up and winced as her body protested any movement. "Hermit," she muttered to herself. "A nice, safe hermit. No hills, no trees, no rabid _deer_. Just a nice, friendly computer and..."

Growling.

That was _definitely_ growling. Felicity went completely still, her heart rate picking up. She turned her head slowly, searching out the sound. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the screen on her phone turn off. Everything was still so fuzzy. Maybe it was just a racoon. Then again, raccoons were kind of violent, weren't they? Not the friendliest of animals. But then, what animal might be out in the woods that growled but wouldn't chew her face off? None were coming to mind.

She couldn't see it, whatever it, was but she did make out two distinct glowing red bulbs. Its eyes? Maybe. What had red eyes and growled? Great, now she sounded like she was asking herself a riddle. Well, whatever it was, she did _not_ want to make its acquaintance...

Felicity turned on her heel and _ran_. No particular direction in mind, she just ran as quickly as her feet would take her, all the while hoping that any trees might do her a favor and get out of her way.

Much like when she'd first entered the woods, every tree branch and bush in the vicinity seemed to cling to her and her clothes, pulling and tearing at her. Tree branches and rocks covered the forest floor, throwing her balance off, forcing her to trip and tumble, but Felicity kept running. Her heart pounded so loud it was all she could hear. Was a zig-zag formation good here? Or was that just for avoiding bullets or like, arrows back in medieval times? Air-born projectiles? Would it throw animals off in any way, or would it just slow her down? With her already poor eyesight in tow, she wasn't sure how effective it would be. What if she just ended up running head-first into another hill or a tree or right off some cliff? How far away were the falls? The last thing she needed was to run her blind butt right over the top of a waterfall. And, given her luck tonight, that was exactly what would happen...

Except, that didn't happen.

No, whatever crazy animal had been chasing her _caught up_.

One minute she was running, and the next she was on the ground, teeth or nails or _something_ tearing into her side. Screaming, she kicked her legs out, trying to get whatever it was _off_ her. She reached down, digging her fingers into thick fur, and scraped her nails across what she assumed was its neck or shoulders. Tears scored down her cheeks as she scrambled to get free. And then, she was.

It picked her up and threw her aside. She bounced as she hit ground again and rolled hard, stray rocks and twigs scraping at her skin. Felicity whimpered in pain and pulled her legs up underneath her. The last thing she wanted to do was start running again; every inch of her body hurt. But, she _had_ to, or she'd end up dead here in the woods. And as much as she complained that all she wanted to do was spend the rest of her life cooped up in her very safe bedroom, she did _not_ want to die. She was only seventeen years old; she had her whole life ahead of her. She wanted to go to MIT, build her own company up from scratch, revolutionize the entire tech world. She wanted to get out of small town Starling. She wanted to kiss a boy. Or a girl. Or just _someone_.

So, Felicity ran.

Her feet dragged, her side throbbed, her body screamed in pain, but she _ran_.

Right out into the middle of the road, where the flash of headlights hit her at the same time that a horn honked, long and loud. Felicity fell to her knees, in pain and crying, and then the driver's side door opened and—

"Felicity? Oh my God..." Sara ran around her car and hurried toward her. "Are you _bleeding?_ I left you alone for like, thirty minutes!"

"Never again!" Felicity leaned into her best friend as she helped her stand. "I'm never going _anywhere_ with you _ever_ again."

"Oh, please..."

"Get in the car, Sara. There's a freaking wolf out there or something. Maybe it was a bear, I don't know!" She hobbled toward the passenger side door and let Sara help her inside before she quickly yanked the door shut and tracked Sara's movements as she circled the car and hopped in on the other side.

"A _bear_?" Sara raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Are you sure...?"

Felicity pulled her shirt up to show the wound on her side. "Whatever it was, it had _teeth_. A lot of them."

Sara frowned, and then put the car in gear. "We need to take you to the hospital."

"No!" Felicity shook her head quickly. "No, they'll keep me overnight. They might not let me go to school tomorrow..."

"Do you _hear_ yourself? Felicity, you were basically _mauled_. We can't just put a band-aid on it."

"So... We can stop at the pharmacy, get some bandages and iodine or something."

Sara snorted. "Not happening."

"Okay, you're right. It's bigger than that. So, what about Doctor Wells?"

"You want to go see a _vet?_ " Sara pursed her lips. "I don't know..."

"Even if he's not there, Barry's working tonight. He'll know what to do!"

Sighing, Sara seemed to mull it over, before eventually taking the turn off that would lead her toward Wells Veterinarian Clinic instead of Starling General. Breathing a sigh of relief, Felicity slumped down in her seat, only to cringe when her side lit up with pain.

"Can I have your phone?" Felicity asked.

Sara dug it out of her pocket, all the while asking, "Where's your phone?"

"I lost it, back in the woods... I'm gonna have to go back for it tomorrow."

"Not when some crazy animal is running around."

"Oh sure, you'll go into the woods when a murderer's on the loose, but not a wolf? What kind of logic is that?"

"It wasn't a wolf. We haven't had wolves around here for like, _years_."

"Comforting." Felicity plugged in Barry's phone number and waited for him to pick up. Four rings passed before a cheery, "Hello?" answered.

"Barry! Hey, um, listen, are you still at the clinic?"

"Felicity? Uh, yeah, I'm just closing up. I didn't realize how late it was. Why? What's up?"

"I need your help. Stay there, I'll be there soon."

"Okay. Are you all right? Should I be worried right now?"

"No, it's fine. I just... I got bit my something."

"What? You were _bit?_ "

"Yeah, I'll explain everything when I get there." She chewed her lip and shifted around in her seat. "We'll be there in like, five minutes, okay?"

"Sure. I'll meet you in the back, okay? Just park in the alley."

"Okay."

Hanging up, Felicity handed the phone back to Sara and grunted.

Sara eyed her worriedly and dropped the phone into her cup holder. "Are you sure this is smart? I mean, what if it had rabies or something?"

"It was probably just some spooked fox or something and we're both completely overreacting." Felicity nodded, even as her side continued to burn.

"If you say so..."

Sara focused on the road ahead, but her mouth was set in a frown.

* * *

"You should really get this checked out by a doctor," Barry said, even as he smoothed down the edges of the bandage.

"It'll be okay, though, right?"

"I mean, I cleaned it out as best I could. I still think it needs stitches. At least staples."

"No!" Felicity pointed at him. "One needle was enough."

"You'd feel worse about bleeding to death," Sara muttered, sitting on a counter and swinging her legs back and forth.

"Nobody asked the peanut gallery." Felicity propped her head up on her hand and looked down at the bandage covering her hip. "So, what are the chances it had rabies?"

"Can't really say." Barry pulled off the gloves he was wearing and disposed of them. "You didn't really get a good look at it. You were running around in the woods, so it could've been just about anything."

"Except a wolf," Sara chimed in.

"Just because nobody's _seen_ a wolf, doesn't mean they aren't out there." Barry shrugged. "It's true that the wolf population has gone down so much that we basically thought they'd left the area, but they could still be around."

Sara's brow furrowed "I thought wolves were pack animals."

"Depends on the wolf." He shrugged, and then looked back at Felicity. "How're you feeling? Sick? Hot? Cold?"

"Tired," she said. "But, that's probably because I was running for my life."

"And adrenaline." He helped her sit up. "It's wearing off now that you're not in danger, so you're going to feel a bit of a crash. My advice? Drink lots of water, take a couple Tylenol, and get some sleep. I still think you should drop by a clinic, the human kind, tomorrow. And keep an eye on the wound. If they start to change color or you see pus or anything, it could be getting infected. You want to be careful, okay?"

"What about a rabies shot?" Sara asked.

"I already gave her a shot for that. We keep some on hand, just in case we're bit." To Felicity, he said, "You'll need another one in three days."

Felicity nodded and then pushed off the metal bed to land on her feet, grimacing when the shock ran through her bed. "I feel gross."

"If you're going to shower, keep your wound covered. Wrap the bandages with plastic so you don't get them wet, okay?"

"Thanks, Doc." Sara handed Felicity her shirt back and she grimaced as she pulled it on.

"Think I'm gonna have to throw this out..."

"Nah. Blood is the new black." Sara winked at her and then clapped a hand down on Barry's shoulder. "You're a peach, Allen. See you at school tomorrow."

"Yeah, sure. Get home safe, guys."

"Seriously, thank you," Felicity told him, half-smiling. "I know I kind of sprung it on you and your boss probably won't be too happy."

"Yeah, he's probably not going to like this too much. But, it was for a good cause." He smiled at her. "Feel better and here." He reached over and grabbed up a few unopened bandages. "Make sure you replace them when you wake up."

"Will do. Thanks." She took the extra bandages and then made her way out, following Sara through the building.

Pushing through the door leading outside, Sara turned on her heel to face Felicity with a grin. "Well, nobody can ever accuse you of not being dedicated to your education."

Felicity rolled her eyes. "Shut up. You know I don't like hospitals..."

Sara's gaze fell and her good humor faded. "It's been two years..."

Her heart squeezed. "Yeah, well, I don't think there's a time limit for getting over something like that."

"Hey, I didn't mean it like that." Sara stepped toward her. "You almost died. You probably would have if—"

" _Don't_."

Sara stared at her. "It's not your fault..."

Felicity felt tears spring to her eyes and shook her head. "I don't want to talk about this."

"You never do." At Felicity's sharp look, she held up her hands. "I'm not saying that like an accusation, I'm just..." She sighed. "I think it would help. Talking to someone about what happened and... what you saw."

Felicity shook her head as her heart climbed up into her throat. She quickly walked toward the car. "Take me home."

"Felicity..."

" _Now_ ," she demanded. Her whole body was vibrating with anger and hurt and the leftover remnants of fear. Blowing out a sigh, she turned back to her friend. In a much softer tone, she asked, "Please, Sara."

Sara stared at her a beat, and then nodded. She circled around to the driver's side and climbed in.

The drive back to Felicity's was spent in tense silence. No lighthearted conversation or over-cheery music. Just the hum of the car and their steady breathing. Once they reached her driveway, Felicity already had her hand on the door handle.

"You know I'm just worried about you, right?" Sara said quietly.

Felicity stilled.

"I know you still have nightmares... I know you still think about it. That you blame yourself for getting out when they couldn't... I know you feel guilty about surviving that fire."

Felicity closed her eyes as tears burned them, her breath caught in her throat. She could still hear their screams, smell the smoke and the scent of burnt flesh, feel the heat burning against her, eating up her clothes, searing at her skin. She could remember that all-consuming fear that she wouldn't get out. The way everything faded from her vision, going dark and fuzzy around the edges. How she could feel her lungs giving up, her throat raw from breathing in smoke. And then... freedom. Cool air on her face, soft earth under her back, the brush of fingers against her tear-streak cheek before—

"It wasn't your fault. You tried to get them out. You did everything you could..."

Felicity swallowed down her pain and reached up, swiping at her face. "I have to go."

"Felicity—"

"It's late, I'm in pain, and I really just... I want to forget this whole night, okay?" Felicity pushed the car door open. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay..." Sara leaned over the center console to see her, staring at her searchingly. "I'll pick you, all right? 8 am, like usual."

"Yeah. See you then."

Felicity pushed the door closed and hurried toward her house, still just as dark and empty as it was when she left. Her mom was working a late shift and probably wouldn't be home for another hour or so. Making her way inside, she kicked off her shoes and climbed the stairs, wincing as every muscle in her body seemed to whine.

Walking into her room, she started undressing, tossing everything but her shirt into her laundry basket. The shirt she threw in the garbage. Grabbing out a pair of pajamas, she made her way into her bathroom. She covered her bandages like Barry told her to and took the hottest shower her skin could stand. The heat was both a relief and a reminder. With Sara's not-so-gentle prodding, her mind was elsewhere. For the most part, Felicity tried to forget what happened two years ago. Despite her mom sending her to every counselor in the phone book, Felicity had never talked about what happened that night. She did write it down; a few thousand times, in fact. Sometimes, she thought if she could just get it down in black and white, all the facts, it would make more sense. But, it never did. That night would live on, forever etched in her mind, framed in death and fire and mired in questions that nobody could answer. Because there was no one left to answer them.

She didn't realize she was crying until a sob tore itself out of her chest and echoed in her hollow bathroom. Sara always said shower-singing was great for acoustics; apparently, it boosted the sound of crying, too. Felicity closed her eyes and covered her mouth. She tried to breathe through it, to block out the memories and the sounds and the smells. But, it swamped her. Like a blanket of the worst possible variety. Scratchy and itchy, it coiled itself around her and wouldn't let her loose. Until finally, she just sunk down to the bottom of the tub, pulled her legs up to her chest, and let it out. She stayed like that until the water grew cold and her crying subsided. She felt tired and empty when she was done.

Pulling her aching body up from the bathtub, she turned off the water flow and climbed out, dripping on the fucsia bath rug. She wiggled her toes against it and wrapped herself in a towel. Walking to the mirror, she wiped away the fog covering the glass and stared at herself. She had to squint, but it wasn't as bad this close. She could make out a few scrapes across her cheeks and a bruise forming on her neck, but it could be worse. She could be worm food right now, like whoever was laid out in the woods.

With a sigh, she plucked up her tooth brush and told herself to focus on other things. Her senior year started tomorrow. Just one more year to graduation, and then she could head off to MIT and never look back. The sooner, the better.

* * *

Felicity was feeling much better when she walked out the door the next morning. As much as she wanted senior year to already be over, she couldn't help but be a little excited for what it had to offer. After all, school was where she excelled. Toast in hand, she made her way outside, hopping off the porch and walking toward the car idling in the driveway, Sara sitting inside.

As soon as she pulled the door open, Sara was on her. "I'm sorry! I was an asshole! Not just for dragging you into the woods, but for the whole 'talk about your feelings' thing. I know how much the fire affected you. I mean, yeah, you don't really talk about it, and I do think you should. But, I shouldn't push you. Especially last night, after how intense everything was. I'm a crappy friend, can you forgive me?"

"It's fine." Felicity took her seat and handed her one of her slices of toast. "Marmalade, your favorite."

" _Oooh_." Sara popped it in her mouth and tore off a large corner with her teeth. "So, this is you forgiving me, right?"

"This is me saying that we should just forget last night. All of it."

"How about 'most' of it?" Sara put her car in drive and pulled away from the house. "We still need to go back for your phone, remember?"

"Oh." Felicity frowned. " _Frack_. I totally forgot."

"Unless you've got enough to replace it, then I think we're gonna have to head back in and hope your furry friend doesn't show again."

Felicity shuddered. "Yeah. Guess so."

"What are the odds we run into the same animal, right? It'll be fine." Sara shrugged and pulled the car out onto the main road. "Onto happier things, we're in senior year! Are you excited?"

A slow smile spread across Felicity's mouth. "A little."

"Come on, this is going to be great. We're at the top of the food chain." Sara grinned. "It's going to be great, just you wait. You're going to be valedictorian, I can feel it. And I'm going to dominate basketball."

Felicity snorted. "You _always_ dominate basketball."

"Sure, but now I'm going to do it as a senior. A milestone is a milestone."

Rolling her eyes, Felicity reached for the dial on the radio. "Whatever. I'll be there with my pom-poms cheering you on the whole time."

"Don't get too cheerful or Laurel might take personal offense."

"Since when does Laurel's squad cheer for the girls' basketball team? I thought they were strictly boys football."

"Apparently, according to her rant last night, Coach Wilson told her that the cheerleaders were required at all the sports events, otherwise they're showing a _bias_. She was apoplectic at the dinner table. It was great."

"Apoplectic? I'm impressed. Are you using that word-a-day calendar Iris got you?"

"Whenever it catches my eye." Sara snorted. "She said she was going to _quiz_ me... Remind me again why we're friends with editor of the newspaper?"

"Because we've known her since kindergarten and she's still one of the coolest people we've ever met?"

"All right, fine, don't rub it in." Sara sighed. "It's a tragedy that the three best people in this town found each other in kindergarten. It leaves literally _no_ cool left for anyone else."

"Yeah, it's a wonder we've survived this long."

They glanced at each other and laughed.

Getting excited, Sara reached for Felicity's hand. "Seriously though, this year is our year. I can _feel_ it."

"Sara, I love you, but literally _every_ year is your year. You've been captain of the basketball team since forever. You're always MVP in every sport you play, including archery, which is like... Who even does that anymore? And you're a black belt at karate. If I didn't know you, I'd envy you. Actually, I _do_ know you and I envy you."

"What's to envy?" Sara scrunched up her nose. "I'm just good at sports. So what? I've been playing them since I could walk. I'm bound to get good with practice. And hey, I'm terrible with technology. You could cripple the entire economy with a few taps of your finger. If anybody should want to be like anybody, it's me wanting to be you."

Felicity rolled her eyes, but warmth filled her at her friend's casual support. "Well, maybe we balance each other out then. I'm balanced impaired and you're super balanced."

"Speaking of, are those new glasses? You broke yours last night, right?"

"Yeah." Felicity sighed. "These are an old pair. I don't think they're helping though. Must be a really old prescription, because my vision actually seems better when I'm _not_ wearing them." Plucking them off her nose, she folded them up. "I'm gonna have to make a trip to my optometrist soon, pick up some contacts while I wait for a new pair of glasses."

"Right after we find wherever you dropped your phone. Hey, do you have that location app? Maybe we can track it that way."

"I do, but I doubt it'll have enough battery by the end of the day. It's probably already dead."

Sara shrugged "Well, we can hope, right?"

"Yeah."

The school loomed ahead and Felicity felt a mix of excitement and resignation. It wasn't like she was picked on or anything. A lot of kids had it worse than her. It was more like she was just, well, ignored for the most part. Sara was semi-popular, due to being so good at sports. But, it was really her twin sister Laurel that teetered at the top of the hierarchy. Head cheerleader and yearbook editor, she was Queen Bee of Starling High School and the only other person who might come close to stealing the title of valedictorian out from under Felicity. Laurel was at the top of her class and a familiar face in all of Felicity's AP classes. They were, grade for grade, almost equal. That almost always fell in Felicity's favor, especially when it came to anything computer-related. But, Laurel was smart. Headed to Harvard Law School smart.

After parking, Felicity and Sara made their way inside the school, absently taking note of familiar faces. It wasn't often that someone new moved to town, but the summer had been good to a lot of people. They'd grown and changed and come back looking taller or tanner or more confident.

"Hey!" Iris fell into step with them with a wide smile. "I tried texting you but you never answered."

"I lost my phone," Felicity said.

"And I haven't checked mine yet." Sara shrugged. "Why? What's up?"

"New people." Iris wiggled her eyebrows. "Two, to be exact. Talia and Nyssa Raatko. Sisters, obvs. Talia's a junior and Nyssa's our age. Laurel's already been tasked with showing them around. I think she's trying to recruit them to the cheerleading squad." She rolled her eyes. "I'm gonna corner one of them and scoop them for the paper, just you watch."

Sara grinned. "Wanna make a bet? Once Laurel sets her sights on someone, it's hard to turn her head."

"You're on, Lance."

As they talked figures, Felicity's mind wandered elsewhere. _Raatko_. She knew that name. Or she knew someone with that name. Once upon a time... Two years ago, she'd met a girl. A woman, basically. Isabel Raatko was nineteen, practically twenty. Felicity had taken one look at her and felt alarm bells scream in her head. There was something... _off_ about her. Something that made her skin crawl and her stomach twist. She'd written it off back then. Thought she was just being overprotective, maybe even jealous. She'd only met her three times, and never saw her again after the fire. Sometimes, in the dark of her bedroom, when she had only her worst memories to keep her company, she wondered if maybe, somehow, it all led back to her. It didn't make sense. But then, nothing about that fire ever did.

"Felicity? Hey, are you with us?"

Felicity blinked out of her head and looked between the two girls. "Yeah, sorry, just... thinking."

Iris frowned. "Sara said you got hurt last night. That you guys were out in the woods and you got bit by something. Are you okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah, fine." The truth was, she _did_ feel fine. A lot better than she expected to. She thought she'd wake up feeling achy from head to toe. But, for the most part, she couldn't feel anything from last night. Her side was a little tender, but it didn't feel infected. Without her glasses, she couldn't make out much. She'd replaced her bandages and dressed, but she wasn't feeling sick or dizzy, so she took it as a good sign.

"Still, maybe we should see the nurse," Iris said, chewing on her lip. "I mean, I trust Barry and I'm sure the rabies shot helped, but, he's a vet's intern. What do you even call that?" She shook her head. "Anyway, all I'm saying is that he's not a doctor, and you should see one. I mean, what if it gets infected or something?"

"I know, and I'll go to the clinic later. Probably."

Iris frowned at her, her eyes narrowed. "If you think I won't drag you there myself—"

"No, I definitely think you will." Felicity held her hands up. "Seriously, I think I'm okay. But, I'll still drop by the clinic and get someone to take a look at it, okay?"

Still uncertain, Iris nodded slowly. "Okay."

They turned a corner then, en route to their lockers, when Felicity spotted Laurel Lance standing down the hallway. She was chatting animatedly at two girls, both of whom were rather blank-faced. They nodded along, but didn't look particularly invested in anything Laurel was saying. And then one, with long, dark hair falling in thick waves around her shoulders, turned sharp brown eyes in their direction.

" _Whoa_ ," Sara murmured.

"That one's Nyssa," Iris said.

Next to Nyssa was a girl about her same height, her hair a dark brown with bangs and choppy layers. Unfamiliar to Felicity, she guessed the girl was Talia.

"We should say hello," Sara suggested, looking Nyssa up and down with obvious appreciation. "At the very least, we should save them from my sister."

Iris snorted. "Yeah, I'm sure you have their best interests at heart."

Sara grinned at her. "Always."

Just as they were about to approach, the bell rung.

With a sigh, Sara shrugged. "There's always later." As they passed the group, Sara winked at Nyssa, who stared back, a little wide-eyed. It was the first expression Felicity had seen that wasn't bland.

"Sara," Laurel said as they passed.

"Laurel," Sara returned, saluting her lightly.

"Go to class," her sister called after her.

"Will do, mom."

Felicity shook her head. "Somehow, this feels almost exactly like last year."

"Hey, last year was fun!" Sara looked over at her. "Which reminds me... We should have a party."

"What?" Felicity squeaked. "The last time we had a party, I had to keep an eye on _both_ of you. Not easy, by the way."

"You volunteered to be the designated driver," Sara reminded.

"No, you volunteered me after you and Iris lined up Jell-O shots." Felicity rolled her eyes. "Which eventually turned into belly shots. And then _real_ shots, because Mike Haller found your dad's gun safe."

"Okay, that was _not_ my fault. And also, we're never having another party at my place. Or Iris'. Because her dad also has a gun safe."

Felicity looked between them and then shook her head. "No! No way are we having one at my place."

Sara just grinned goofily. "It'll be great. The pool's still set up and everything!" She popped a kiss on Felicity's cheek. "Just you wait and see, Smoaky! You'll love it!" She careened off to the left, stopping at her locker, while Felicity and Iris kept walking.

"If it makes you feel better, I won't drink. That way we can _both_ watch Sara. She probably needs more than one babysitter anyway."

Felicity sighed, but she already knew she'd end up letting the party happen. Her mom worked such late hours anyway. And Donna was always telling her to make more friends, so she might even get away with telling her it was a bonding experience between her and the people at school. It was highly unlikely it would work, but she could still try.

"So, listen, now that I have you alone..." Iris turned a smile on her.

"You aren't going to try and recruit me to the paper again, are you? Because I'm a whiz with computers, but journalistic aptitude I do _not_ have."

Iris waved a hand. "No. Totally not. Actually, I was hoping you might be able to help me _upgrade_ the computers we're using. Shado said we didn't have it in our budget, so I was hoping you might be able to do something." She shrugged. "I don't really know how any of this upgrading stuff works, but I thought I'd ask."

"I can take a look at them, sure. Maybe not today. I have to take a trip back out to the woods to find my phone. But tomorrow, definitely."

Iris frowned. "Are you sure you want to go back in there? Sara said they found a body. Or part of one..."

"Yeah. Uh, actually..." She looked around and then pulled Iris over toward her locker. "I completely forgot to say anything, but, while I was stumbling around in the woods last night, I found it."

"You found...?"

"The other half of the body."

" _What!?_ "

"Shh!" Felicity waved at her to keep it quiet. "I kind of tripped over it."

"Oh my God! Are you sure?"

"I mean, I was kind of blind, but yeah, kind of hard to miss. I didn't get a great look at it. I was kind of freaking out. But, definitely the upper half of a body." She grimaced. "Totally gross, by the way."

"Upper half. So then, you know more than the cops do. I mean, about who it might be?"

"I know that it's a guy. Short dark hair, white. Or, kind of white. Kind of blue-grey, actually, what with all the... _deadness_."

"But, you didn't recognize them?"

"I didn't really stop to get a good look. I mean, dead body, freaked out. I basically fell over a hill after that. And then I was being chased by something, and bitten, so yeah, no, didn't retain a lot of details."

"So, it was a guy. White, brown hair, severed in half." Iris nodded, her eyes darting thoughtfully.

"You're not putting that in the paper, right?" Felicity worried. "I wasn't supposed to be out there."

"Anonymous works fine." Iris paused. "Wait, do you think you could find it again?"

"The police still haven't found the other half?"

She shook her head.

"I mean, it wasn't that far from my phone, so... If it's still there and it wasn't like, dragged off by some hungry animal, then, yeah. If I can find my phone, I can find the body."

Interested, Iris perked up. "So then, I'll come with you. Today, after school. When you guys go back for your phone."

"The interest you have in finding a body is kind of creepy, I have to say." Felicity opened her locked and pushed her backpack in, digging out a notebook and her combination lock from a side pocket.

"Not in the body, in the _story_." Iris nodded. "This could be huge!"

"I don't know about huge. I do know that someone's _dead_." She closed her locker and slid her combination through the hook to lock it.

"Yeah, of course. I can't change that. I _can_ make sure we all get the scoop on what's happening."

"All right. Fine. Yes, come with us." Felicity shrugged. "Maybe with three of us, there's less chance of being mauled again."

Iris snorted. "Fingers crossed."

* * *

Felicity rested her elbows on her desk, her notebook open in front of her, and a pencil tucked between her fingers. Sara sat on her left and Iris on her right. While Sara was doodling in the corner of her book, Iris was texting someone on her phone. If Felicity had to guess, it was Iris' crush. She was adamant that she did _not_ have any kind of feelings for Rene Ramirez, but Iris had spent a _lot_ of last year hanging around the shop classes, where Ramirez frequented. Plus, she _insisted_ Felicity join her at almost all of last year's hockey games, and who happened to play defense for the Starling High Arrowheads? Rene "Wild Dog" Ramirez. As far as Felicity was concerned, the evidence spoke for itself.

At the front of the class room, Mr. Wilson turned to face them, a marker in hand. While Wilson was better known for teaching the girls' basketball and volleyball teams, he was also their history teacher. A gruff man, he was one of Felicity's favorite teachers. No nonsense and serious about his work, he expected the best of his students and let them know when they were falling short of the mark.

"All right," he said, his voice booming. "I'm sure you've all heard that a body was found in the woods last night. And I'm sure you're all caught up in thinking of all the _gruesome_ things that might have led to it. Well, put your fears to rest. The police have a suspect in custody as we speak, which means that whatever happened out there is on its way to being old news. Now, there should a syllabus on your desk outlining my expectations for this semester. Let's get started..."

Felicity plucked the syllabus out from under her notebook and laid it down in front of her. Just as she was reading through the front page, she heard a cell phone ringing. Sharp and high, it felt like it was right against her ear. Frowning, she tilted her head up and looked around. Iris had already put her cell phone away and was reading through the syllabus. Nobody else around her seemed to be fiddling with their phone either.

It rang again and then—

"Father," a voice said, deep and feminine. It wasn't coming from in the classroom. Nobody around her was talking on their phone. And yet, somehow, she was hearing someone's conversation, clear as day.

"Talia and I are already at the school. We're waiting for an escort to our first class... Yes, we've already met someone. Her name was Laurel. You'll be happy to hear she's on the cheerleading squad and thinks Talia and I should try out. I doubt I will, but Talia's thinking about it."

Felicity's gaze moved to the door, her brow furrowed. Was it coming from the hallway? How could she hear someone talking from all the way out there...?

Nyssa hummed in answer to whatever he said in reply. "I never said I was unhappy about the move. I said I wasn't looking forward to starting over. There's a difference... I'm not arguing with you. I'm just tired. It's the first day and I'm not excited about meeting new people... Father, I have to go. The principal is here. He's going to walk us to our first class... I will... I'll see you at home later. Bye."

A few seconds passed before Felicity heard the familiar voice of Principal Steele greeting someone. "Nyssa, isn't it? A pleasure to meet you. And you must be Talia. Welcome, both of you, to Starling High School. We're happy to have you."

"Thank you."

"Nyssa, if you'll follow me, your class is just down here. Mr. Slade is a wonderful teacher. He's been with us for many years. He teaches history and, if you're interested, he also coaches the basketball and volleyball teams. I'm sorry, I can't remember if either of you were on sports teams at your former schools."

"Talia's a gymnast," Nyssa replied. "I prefer archery. But, I've also competed in fencing."

"Wonderful! We have an archery team. Perhaps later, I can introduce you to Sara Lance. She's captain of the archery team."

"Lance? Is she related to Laurel Lance?"

"Yes! They're twin sisters, in fact. It sounds like you've already been making friends, I'm glad to hear it... Ah, here we are. Mr. Wilson's class."

Felicity watched as the door swung open. Principal Steele stepped inside and smiled at the class. "Class, we have a new student. Nyssa Raatko. Please, make her welcome." He turned then and shook Mr. Wilson's hand. "Please, don't let me interrupt. Carry on." As he backed up toward the door, Felicity spotted Talia standing just outside, her arms crossed loose over her chest as she kicked absently at the floor and waited.

Nyssa kept her head high as she walked down the aisle to the only available seat, directly in front of Sara.

Felicity stared at her a moment, confused and surprised, and then turned to Sara, who was wiggling her eyebrows and smiling. Felicity forced a smile back at her but then turned her face forward and sunk down in her seat. What the _hell_ was that?

* * *

By lunch, Felicity had a headache. Not only from her hearing randomly picking up things from strangely long distances, but she was also pretty sure her glasses were causing it. Sitting at a table, she rubbed her fingers against her temples and groaned.

"Here. Drink this." Iris placed a water bottle in front of her. "If your headache gets any worse, I think we should go to the nurse's office. This could be from last night. What if you hit your head or something?"

Felicity plucked her glasses off and dropped them down on the table. "It's just the wrong prescription. My eyes are having trouble adjusting. It happens every time I get new glasses. Or, in this case, _old_ glasses."

"Or you're wrong and you have a brain hemorrhage." Sara plucked a fry up from her plate and then looked between her glaring friends. "What? I'm just saying. Worst case scenario..."

"I'm fine, really." Felicity unscrewed the cap from the water bottle and knocked back half of it. "It's a headache, it'll go away." Squinting, she took a look around the room. But, her vision seemed to be going in and out. There were moments where it seemed clearer than it'd ever been. Like, 20/20 focus. Which was something she couldn't honestly say she'd ever remembered it being. Other times, it was beyond fuzzy, making everything a misshapen blur.

"Hey, have either of you guys talked to the new girl?" Sara wondered.

"You mean new _girls_? I talked to Talia. She already sounds pretty set on joining the cheerleading squad, but I asked her to drop by the paper anyway and check it out. Who knows, I might talk at least one of them into exploring their journalistic side."

Felicity grunted. "Talia used to be a gymnast. Sports are probably more her thing. Actually, Nyssa, too. She's super into archery."

"Archery, really?" Sara grinned. "I can work with that."

"Wait, when did you find that out?" Iris frowned. "Do you and Nyssa have a class together?"

No, they didn't. She was recalling the conversation she'd overheard and honestly had no other excuse for why she would know those things. But, admitting that she'd heard a conversation happening in the hallway would only invite more questions. As much as she loved Iris—both she and Sara were her best friends—she couldn't really deal with questions right now. Not when it felt like someone was poking her brain with a hot metal rod.

"Is anyone sitting here?"

All three girls looked up abruptly, to find Nyssa and Talia Raatko hovering near the table, each tightly gripping a tray of cafeteria food.

"No, definitely not," Sara said, sliding down the bench to make room. "You guys are new, right?"

"Fresh meat," Talia agreed. "We just moved to town like a week ago, actually."

"And of everywhere you could go, Starling is where you landed?" Iris' brows hiked. "Not sure I'd make the same choice."

"We have family roots that tie back here from forever ago." Talia shrugged. "I guess my parents wanted to get back to where we came from. Anyway, we probably won't be here long. We don't stay anywhere for more than a year. How long have you guys lived here?"

"All our lives," Iris said. "Felicity's mom moved her here when she was like, three. They used to live in Las Vegas."

"All sin, all the time," Felicity muttered.

Sara snorted. "Iris and me were born here. The Lance's have a long history with Starling, as I'm sure my sister probably boasted about earlier. Laurel? She's head cheerleader."

"She's your sister?" Nyssa turned to stare at her. "Does that mean you're on the archery team? The principal mentioned something."

"I am." Sara leaned forward a little, grinning. "You're good with a bow?"

"Impeccable."

"I like the confidence. You'll have to show me some time."

Nyssa stared at her, a slow smile upturning her lips. "I will."

Felicity folded her arms and dropped her face down, burying it there, absently listening to Talia and Iris discuss some of the cities the Raatko's had lived in previously, while Sara and Nyssa continued to flirt. Blocking it all out, she focused on her breathing. She inhaled on the count of eight and exhaled to a count of ten. Over and over again, until it all faded away. The sound of her friends' voices and the noise of the cafeteria became distant. It was just her and...

A heartbeat.

Steadily thumping away. Just one heartbeat out of all the rest. It wasn't hers, she could tell because her own picked up when she first noticed it. But, whoever's heart it was, it never paused or slowed or quickened. It was just the same constant rhythm. Felicity focused on it, let it soothe her frayed nerves. After a couple minutes, she felt her own fall in line with it.

 _Thump... thump... thump..._

She breathed out all her worries, all the pain throbbing in her head, even the tenderness on her side. She could almost fall asleep, lulled into a sense of peace she'd never felt before.

And then Iris's hand on her shoulder. "Hey, sleepyhead. The bell's about to ring."

Felicity lifted her head, blinking rapidly, and felt the room zoom back into focus. The noise of before—shuffling feet, banging chairs, criss-crossing voices—it all filled her ears to an overwhelming degree. She groaned and dropped her head back down.

Sara snorted. "I know the feeling." She rubbed Felicity's back. "Come on. We've only got one more class and then we're outta here. Free to roam the creepy woods all we want."

"We're only going to find my phone," she muttered.

"And, if we're lucky, the other half of that body," Iris added.

"Yeah. That reminds me." Sara bumped her shoulder against Felicity's. "Way to leave out a few details. Apparently, you ran across the top half of our missing body."

"I had other things on my mind. Namely, the bloodthirsty animal trying to make me a midnight snack." Sitting back, Felicity dragged herself up from the bench, and only then realized that Talia and Nyssa had left. "Where'd your new friends go?"

Sara shrugged. "Laurel scooped them up to talk cheerleading tryouts." She stared at her searchingly. "Are you sure you're feeling okay?"

"Yeah. Just tired. Anyway, my headache is mostly gone. Small miracles, I guess." Grabbing up her tray, she carried it over to the garbage and recycling bins.

Iris followed after her and separated everything on her tray before putting it aside. Hooking an arm around Felicity's waist, she towed her toward the cafeteria doors. "Personally, I vote that we get Big Belly after we hit the woods. I'm craving a milkshake."

"Yeah?" Felicity bumped Iris' hip with her own. "And that wouldn't have anything to do with Rene being a cook there, right?"

Iris rolled her eyes. "Not _everything_ has to do with cute boys."

"So, you think he's cute?" Sara joined her on the other side and hooked her arm through Iris'. "'Cause I do."

Felicity smiled. "Face wise, he's A+."

"What do you mean 'face wise'?" Iris scoffed. "How about ' _everything_ ' wise."

Sara smirked. "Are you saying you've _seen_ everything?"

Iris rolled her eyes. "Are you guys serious?"

"Seriously interested, yes. Share the details." Felicity nodded. " _All_ the details."

"Spare us _nothing_ ," Sara agreed.

Iris laughed, but then grinned between them. "All right, fine. If you're really curious..."

" _Yes_..."

"I will answer all of your very detailed questions _after_ school."

Sara groaned. "I hate waiting."

"I've waited since last year," Felicity said. "I can wait another hour or so."

Iris shrugged. "It's not official or anything. We're just hanging out. I didn't want to say anything until it felt a little more serious."

"So, it's serious then?"

"It's..." She trailed off, staring down the hall as Rene walked in their direction, passing a half-grin toward Iris. "Not _not -_ serious."

Felicity and Sara exchanged a look. "After school," they said.

Iris flushed warmly. "After school."

* * *

By the end of the day, Felicity was less interested in finding her phone and more interested in taking a nap and blocking out all sound. She was suffering from a serious case of sensory overload, and it wasn't just her hearing or her vision anymore. She swore she could smell _everything_. And every _one_. The kids coming out of gym class that reeked of perspiration. People wearing too much perfume or axe body spray. Bad breath. A boy three classes down that just farted. It was too much.

She wasn't sure she heard a word of what her teacher said. She was just desperate to get out away from the school. As soon as the bell rang, she felt her head vibrate with the noise, almost too much to take. It lasted three long seconds before it died away and left only the shuffling sound of feet hurrying toward the door, scuffing the linoleum on the way.

"Hey, are you okay?" Iris' hand rubbed her shoulder worriedly. "I _told_ you we should've brought her to the nurse."

Felicity lifted her head, her eyes damp with tears. "Please, I just want to _go_."

Iris and Sara exchanged a look, but eventually nodded. They helped her up from her desk, wrapping an arm around her each. They made a quick pit stop at their lockers, gathering up their books and bags, and then then they were rushing outside, bee-lining it for Sara's car. While Felicity climbed in the back to lay down, wrapping her arms around her head to block out the noise, Iris and Sara hopped in the front. With a few irritable honks of her horn, she cleared a path through the parking lot and took off, en route to Felicity's house.

Minutes passed. The farther away they got away from people, the less it hurt. Noise dwindled and, slowly, Felicity found she could breathe again. She lifted her head up and looked around. It was weird. She swore she could _feel_ her pupils widening and narrowing as her vision went in and out, clear then blurry then clear again.

"What are the symptoms of rabies?" she wondered.

"But, you got a shot for that," Sara reminded.

"Just look it up, _please_."

Iris dug her phone out of her bag and started Googling. "Okay. Um, it says there's pain where you were bitten, but _duh_. General feeling of illness, headache, poor appetite, nausea, vomiting, muscle aches, sore throat, depression..."

"Do you feel sick? I don't think you've thrown up." Sara glanced back at her, her mouth pinched with worry.

"No, not sick. It's like... I don't know. I have a headache, but it's like the volume in my head is turned up to max. And I can see things. I swear, if it was a spider and not some rabid forest animal, I'd think I was pulling a Spider-man right now."

"A _what?_ " Iris turned in her seat to stare at her. "You think you've got superpowers?"

"Super hearing, maybe super sight. Definitely super-smell, which is _awful_ by the way... Like, I know you have a peppermint patty in your bag. I can smell the mint."

Iris stared at her a beat, and then grabbed up her bag, digging around until she came up with the half-mushed candy. "Okay... That was _weird_."

"But, it's _crazy,_ right? Tell me it's crazy."

"Of course it is!" Sara agreed, but her brow was furrowed. "That was just a lucky guess. I mean, Iris has a sweet tooth. She's a chocolate hoarder."

"Am not!" Iris slapped at her arm, but Sara only grinned.

"Anyway, the last thing Starling needs is a superhero. We're boring central."

Iris rolled her eyes. "This is _literally_ happening because you two went into the woods to find a severed body."

"Not helping," Sara muttered. "And that was an isolated situation. It's not like we get a lot of murder around here."

"No, but it's a little sketch that we get one murder and now Felicity is having some kind of superhero complex. I mean, no offense 'Lis, you know I love you. But, if you start donning leather and a cape, I will disown your extra ass."

Felicity snorted. "I'm not sure leather is really my _look_."

"Personally," Sara said, "I think I could rock it."

Iris looked up then and frowned. "Uh, you missed the turn off. Felicity's place was back a block."

Sara shrugged. "The woods will be good for her. Some fresh air, a little hiking, it'll clear up whatever Peter Parker complex she's having."

"Or it'll kick her PTSD into action." Iris reached for Felicity and took one of her hands. "Are you up for this?"

"I'm feeling okay. Better, anyway..." Felicity nodded. "I don't know. It was just too much. Too many people at school. But, I can do this. And I really need my phone back. I don't want to tell my mom I lost it."

Iris frowned uncertainly. "I know she's been working late and you guys don't get to see each other much, but I kind of feel like she'd want to know you got hurt."

"And I'll tell her. Just, when it's healed up and she can't go super-mom on me. You know how much she worries." She screwed her mouth up. "She still asks me about that dream journal she got me."

Iris stared at her searchingly. "Did you ever write in it?"

"I tried to. In the beginning, when the nightmares were really bad, but... I gave up after a while. Having it all written down in black and white isn't all that comforting. I'm not sure I even want to remember."

"Flis..." Sara shook her head. "I don't want to sound like a broken record, but trauma like that doesn't just go away. It sticks with you."

Felicity stared at the roof of the car. "One of you could always take up hypnotism, you know? Do me a solid and just wipe it all away."

Iris gave her hand a squeeze and then shook it. "Doesn't work like that, babe."

"A girl can dream."

The car began to slow, before turning down a path. Felicity tipped her head back and realized they were pulling into a parking lot; the same that Sara had parked in that night. "How far from here were you when you almost ran me over?" she wondered.

"Not far." Sara put the car in park and turned it off. "I waited for a while. Hoped you might stumble this way. But, then my dad started to get suspicious so I kind of had to leave. Anyway, I wasn't driving very fast, since I was looking for you. And hey, I found you, didn't I?"

Iris pushed her door open and climbed out, reaching back to push the seat down for Felicity to climb out after her. "Do you remember anything about where you were? What the trees were like or mile markers or anything like that?"

"There were a lot of trees," Felicity said blandly. "Tall, blurry trees."

Sara snorted. "It was like midnight, and she was half-blind. I think we're gonna have to bank on luck for this."

Iris frowned. "Do you have any idea how big these woods are?"

"Super big?" Felicity shrugged and followed after Sara as she started walking up a dirt path. "Anyway, Sara had the bright idea that my phone's tracking software might still work. I'm pretty sure my phone is dead, but I might be able to get a 'last location' on it. Can I use one of your phones to try?"

Iris passed hers over. "I'm so not wearing the right shoes for this," she muttered. Casting an uncertain look around, she frowned. "How did you let her talk you into coming out here at _night?_ It's daylight out and still creepy as hell."

"She's persuasive." Felicity stared down at the phone as she tapped away at the screen. "I was right, my phone's dead... _But_ , it does have a 'last pinged' option..." She looked up, smiling widely. "Looks like I might get a phone and you'll get a body. Or, well, half a body."

"I'm more interested in a story." Still, Iris grinned back at her.

"Speaking of stories, I think we were owed one." Sara was standing atop an overturned, mossy tree, a hand on her hip. "What's going on with you and Ramirez?"

Iris' cheeks warmed up, turning a pretty red shade. "It's like I said. We were just hanging out for a while. Sometimes that meant hanging out his place, just talking, and other times that making out."

"Like, right after hockey practice when he's all sweaty and worked up?" Sara wiggled her eyebrows as she hopped off the log to walk next to them.

"Shut up." Iris bumped her shoulder against Sara's. "He's a lot more than just a hockey player."

"Hey, nothing wrong with hockey." Sara held her hands up. "He's got a future ahead of him if he keeps it up. My dad thinks he could go pro if he wanted to."

Iris shrugged. "I don't know. We don't talk about that, really."

"What _do_ you talk about?" Felicity wondered.

"Life... Family... Just, I don't know, _everything_. He's smart and sweet and he... makes me feel good. Not like _sexy_ -good, although that, too. But, like, cherished, you know?" She shook her head. "I don't know. It's hard to explain. I just feel like I can be myself when I'm with him. No walls. Just, a hundred percent me. It's hard, feeling exposed like that with someone. Vulnerable in a way."

"But you trust him," Sara said, her voice a little softer. Nodding slowly, she bumped Iris' hip with her own. "Good for you."

"Really?" Iris looked skeptical, like maybe she hadn't expected them to be so accepting of Rene. Felicity couldn't say she knew him well. They'd shared a couple classes over the years, but he was more into shop where she was a computer nerd. So, it was more a passing association through attending the same schools their whole lives. He was a good guy, she knew that much. Not a bully by nature, he went out of his way to stand up for others if he thought they were being picked on. But, he still kept a low profile for the most part. If he wasn't playing hockey, he was in the shop or he was working at Big Belly. Some guys let their status on a team sport go to their head, but he wasn't one of them. And, if Iris said he was a good person, then Felicity trusted her instinct.

"Hey, if you're happy, I'm happy," Sara told her.

"Same," Felicity agreed.

Iris beamed, looking happily between them. "Great."

"Yup. Just as long as this radiant happiness of yours doesn't lead to you trying to play matchmaker for us, we're cool." Sara stared at her knowingly. "I don't need any help in the dating department."

"Are you sure? I saw you making eyes at Nyssa at lunch."

Sara grinned. "It's the first day. I've got time to woo her."

" _Woo?_ " Iris laughed. "What happened to hook 'em and hop?"

"Still a weird way of putting it," Felicity muttered. "Are you a rabbit? Is it a euphemism for sex or are you just saying you're cute?"

Sara shrugged. "A little of both."

Felicity opened her mouth to say more, but paused suddenly. She felt a prickling sensation on the back of her neck; the tiny hairs there standing on end. Her feet stopped moving, but neither Sara nor Iris seemed to notice. Instead, they kept walking, trading lighthearted jabs at each other over their romantic histories. But, Felicity's attention was elsewhere. Someone, or some _thing_ , was watching her. She could feel it.

Turning on her heel, she cast her gaze around, searching for the source of what was tracking her. She could feel her heartbeat kick up in nervous uncertainty. Suddenly, her hearing kicked in. She could hear Iris and Sara's voices as clearly as if they were right next to her, talking into her ears. More, she could hear their heartbeats, steady but not quite in tune with each other. She could hear Sara's hair, tied up in a ponytail, swinging behind her. She could hear the heel of Iris' shoes sink into the earth, crunching a leaf in the process. The wind whistled through the trees; birds cawed in the distance; and animal feet skittered around the forest floor. Beyond all of that, louder than all the rest, was a heartbeat. Distinct and strangely familiar.

Felicity raised her chin and looked straight ahead, through the criss-crossing trees, to a figure standing stock still. Her vision swam and she reached up, plucking the glasses from her nose and rubbing her fingers over her eyes. When her hand dropped away, she blinked a few times, and then everything was in high definition. She could see every angle of his face, every eye lash, every whisker that made up the stubble covering his cheeks and chin. More than that, however, she could make out with complete accuracy exactly who was staring back at her. Only, it was impossible. Not just her super-vision, but who she was looking at.

"Oliver?" she whispered, her voice little more than a strained croak.

An impossibility for sure. Because if there was one thing Felicity knew it was that Oliver Queen was dead.

Two years ago, he'd died in a fire.

She'd seen it with her own two eyes.

* * *

 **tbc**

* * *

 **note** : _so i recently had this idea to rewrite some of my favorite tv plots with my other otps and this is where that led. clearly, i've changed a lot of details from the original format of teen wolf. i've written a good chunk of this, so it should be about 5-8 chapters after editing. while some of it does follow the original TW plot, a lot of it has been changed. the next chapter is mostly flashbacks to two years ago, and revolves around felicity and oliver. i know he wasn't in this pretty much at all (though the heart she listens to earlier in the chapter is his), but i'll make up for that in coming chapters. :)_

 _i'm still working on updates to 'what's a little history' and other olicity fics, but i needed a break and this provided that. i put a ton of work and detail into this, so please leave some feedback._

 _thank you for reading!  
_ **\- Lee | Fina**


	2. Chapter 2

**word count** : 15,485  
 **chapter rating** : pg-13  
 **summary** : (teen wolf AU) A year and a half ago, Felicity Smoak nearly died in a fire that stole the lives of two of her friends and their entire family. Still recovering, her life changes even more when she's bitten by a strange animal in the woods. Before she knows it, she's got a feud with the full moon; a boy she thought she loved and lost is not-so-dead; and her sleepy town is being terrorized by a bloodthirsty monster.

* * *

 **-2-**

The world seemed to grow fuzzy around the edges as Felicity stared, wide-eyed and unblinking, at a boy she hadn't seen in a year and a half. A boy she'd mourned and missed. A boy she had nightmares about for _months_. That she still sometimes dreamt of in the worst possible way. Her heart started pounding in her chest painfully; she lifted a shaking hand up to press against it, like she might catch her heart between her fingers and forcibly slow it down. A sharp, piercing sensation made her look down. She was shocked and confused to find that her nails—previously a pretty dusty rose color— were now brown and sharpened like talons. More, they'd torn through her top to scrape at her skin. With a yelp, she yanked her hand away, staring down at in shock.

"What the frack…?"

Brow furrowed, she looked up, searching for answers. She wasn't sure where she expected to get them. The visage of a long-dead friend? He wasn't there anymore. The ghostly image of him had dissipated, leaving her more confused than ever. Was she having a fever dream or something? Why, of all people, would she think of him? For the most part, Felicity tried her best to forget that night, and the months leading up to it. It wasn't all bad. In fact, it'd been really good for a while. But, like all things, it had to come to an end. She just wasn't expecting that end to be so permanent.

"I'm losing it," she muttered to herself, giving her hands a shake and closing her eyes. When she opened them, her nails were short and pink once more. "Claws and dead people, just what I wanted to kick off my senior year…"

With a labored laugh, she looked up, ready to chase after her friends and get this whole thing over with. But when she raised her chin, she caught movement, a figure cutting through the trees. Without thinking, Felicity started moving, leaving the path to walk deeper into the woods, searching for the shadowy person she'd seen before, all the while telling herself she was sure she was going to find someone other than Oliver. Maybe someone that looked like him, but not him.

The damp ground sunk a little under each of her footsteps; she regretted not trading in her boots for something more sensible, like running shoes. These were made for fashion, not hiking. Hopping over a downed tree, she kept going, until she found herself at the foot of a hill where the dirt was disturbed, rocks and debris piled at the bottom. And then she saw it, her phone, sitting at an awkward angle on the hill, stuck on an upturned branch. Climbing up, she reached for it, pulled it loose and wiped it off on her jeans. "Well, that's one less problem…" With a sigh, she added, "The talking to yourself thing is its own bag of crazy cats."

 _Snap_!

Felicity whirled around, the tiny hairs on the back of her neck flaring up. Her shoulders hunched forward and her fingers spread apart. She didn't want to look, but she could _feel_ that her nails were not her own anymore. The claws of before were out and she wasn't sure what that meant, or if she wanted to know. Eyes darting to and fro, she firmed her mouth and took a step forward. "Hello?" she called out. "If that's you, Sara, cut it out! I was mauled like, barely a _day_ ago, this isn't funny!"

There was no answer.

Felicity felt her stomach flip-flop. Another snapping noise came, this time distinctly from her left, and she turned her head abruptly.

Suddenly, a figure stepped out, his hands raised in a surrendering motion.

Shaking her head, she stumbled back a step, her heart thundering in her chest once more. "You're not real…"

"I am," he said, his voice deeper than she remembered.

"No." Her eyes burned with the sting of tears. "No, you _died_. I _saw_ you!"

He frowned and let out a heavy sigh through his nose. His gaze darted away briefly. "It's a long story."

"Bullshit. This is _not_ happening. I hit my head last night. I lost blood. I was _bitten_ by some rabies-carrying bear or something, I don't know. So this, whatever this is, it's not real. _You're_ not real!"

He paused a few feet short of her, eyes moving over her face carefully. "It wasn't a bear."

"Sure. The all-seeing, all-knowing dead guy knows what attacked me. That's really selling your point, fever-dream!" She laughed, short and sharp, edged with hysteria. Backing up another step, she turned her head, "Sara!" she yelled. "Iris!"

"They can't hear you. They went the other direction."

She glared back at him. "Is that a veiled threat?"

He pursed his lips. "I'm not threatening you. I'm trying to talk to you."

"About what?" She threw her hands up, one still clutching her phone. "What could you possibly have to say to me? You are _dead_. And this is probably why my mom wants me to go back to therapy, because apparently, I just wander off into the woods and start talking to ghosts."

"Felicity," he bit out gruffly. "I need you to listen to me. You aren't safe." He looked away, scanning the woods quickly. "None of you are. Not you or your friends."

"Why?"

"It's complicated." He folded his mouth. "I need you to trust me right now."

"Why should I? You're being weird and shady and, oh, not to mention, you _died_. Have I mentioned that part?"

"A few times." He took another step forward, glancing at her feet when she didn't immediately jump away. "Listen… I didn't die. I know you think I did. I know you think you saw it happen… But nothing is what it seems. You're going to realize that a lot sooner than you think."

She shook her head slowly. "What does _that_ mean?"

Oliver turned his face upward, toward the sky. "The full moon is tomorrow…"

"Change of subject much?"

His mouth kicked up faintly and he returned his attention to her. "Skip school tomorrow. Just… trust me. You're not going to want to be there. Meet me at my old house. I'll explain everything."

"I can't just _skip_ school… And anyway, I don't know if you know this, but what's left of your house is kind of a hazard. Nobody's allowed out there."

"Just meet me there." He stared at her seriously. "You want answers, don't you?"

She frowned. "I hate mysteries."

He smiled again, faint as it was. "I remember." With that, he backed up, turning on his heel.

"Hey! Wait!" She stared after him. "If this is real, if you've been alive this whole time…" Her heart quickened; it dipped in her chest, flirting with the acid of her stomach before banging hard against her ribs. "Why now? Why, after all this time…?"

He paused and turned back to face her, his expression unreadable. "Tomorrow."

Felicity let out a frustrated noise, but then she heard it, _voices_. Iris and Sara were coming her way. She turned her head, searching for what direction they were coming from. Through the trees, she could see bits of color—the turquoise of Sara's sweater and the bright red of Iris' top. When she looked back, Oliver was gone, and she was left wondering once more if he'd ever been there at all.

"There you are!" Sara called out, ducking under a low-hanging branch.

"We've been looking all over…" Iris rolled her eyes. "Way to wander off the path, Smoak."

"Our intrepid reporter here was ready to call in reinforcements. She thought you tripped down another hill and were being chased by the big bad wolf." Sara grinned toothily. "Glad to see you're not bleeding this time…" She paused, squinting at Felicity's chest. "Or not as much, anyway. Did a tree attack you? Your shirt's torn up…"

Looking down at herself, Felicity slipped a finger through a tear in her shirt, noticing the darkened patches of fabric from blood. "I'm fine. Really." At their dubious looks, she held up her phone, "Look what I found!"

Iris' brows hiked. "That means we're close, right? To the body."

Felicity motioned a thumb over her shoulder. "Last I saw it, it was up there. Up for a small hike?"

Iris glanced down at her high heels with a frown, but then turned a determined look on the hill. "Let's go!"

Sara was already halfway up the hill, an arm wrapped around the trunk of a tree. "Hurry up, slowpokes!"

Rolling her eyes, Felicity turned to climb up after her. Her shoes slipped in the dirt a few times, sending rocks and debris tumbling down behind her, but after a few minutes, she made it to the top and reached back to help Iris up the rest of the way. The three girls walked across the grass, searching for any tell-tale signs of where the body might be.

"Should we spread out?" Sara wondered.

"I know you've seen a horror movie." Iris' brows hiked. "That's what white people say before they get picked off one by one. I want to _write_ a story, not _become_ one."

Snorting, Sara nodded. "Point taken."

"Guys…" Felicity stood a few feet ahead of them, staring down at a deep groove in the dirt, blood stained grass surrounding the crude outline. "I think we're too late."

Sara came to a stop next to her, hands on her hips as she stared down at the ground. "Animal or psycho killer?"

Felicity sighed and took a look around. _'You aren't safe. None of you are._ ' That's what he'd said. "We should go," she said, reaching out to take both girls by their forearms. "We'll let your dad know where it was, tell him we were out hiking. But right now, we need to leave."

"Whoa, what's got you spooked?" Sara stared at her searchingly. "Are you okay?"

Iris dug her phone out of her pocket. "Just wait. I want to get a few pictures."

A cool breeze rushed through the trees then and sent a chill down Felicity's back. She remembered the deer from the night before; their panicked race through the woods, trampling everything in sight. How the woods had seemed to go completely silent when whatever had attacked her had made its debut. There was something in the woods that scared everything else that lived there. That wasn't a good sign. She wasn't sure what it was or why it attacked her, but something just wasn't right. Between the attack and Oliver (a totally dead Oliver that she may or may not have imagined) showing up to warn her off, her weird-o-meter was telling her to get gone.

"Are you warm? You got a headache or anything?" Sara pressed the back of her hand to Felicity's forehead. "How long were we supposed to wait before you get that other rabies shot?"

"I'm fine." Felicity brushed her off. "I just want to get out of here. _Now_."

"Okay. Got it." Putting her phone away, Iris turned back to them. "You know the way out of here, right?"

Felicity nodded. Turning on her heel, she made her way back to the hill, the girls following at her back. As they made their way through the trees and back to the path, Felicity carefully listened for any signs of danger. The feeling of being watched was still there, but no matter where she looked, she couldn't spot anyone or anything. By the time they reached Sara's car, she was feeling nervous and tired.

"I think we should stop by the clinic… Or the hospital," Sara piped up. "Can't hurt to get you checked out, right? Make sure it's healing and everything."

"No." Felicity climbed into the backseat and hunkered down, still glaring out at the treeline. "I just want to go home and get some sleep."

Iris and Sara exchanged a look, but climbed into the car.

"We could come over. Order a pizza, watch a movie, just hang out for a while," Iris suggested.

"I think I'm just gonna pass out in bed for a bit. I've got some homework I need to catch up on, too." Crossing her arms, Felicity dropped her head back on the headrest and stared out the window.

Iris and Sara whisper-talked about what to do, but eventually, they were pulling up to Felicity's house.

"I'll be fine. Seriously, I'll text you guys later. It was just weird being back in the woods." She half-smiled at them reassuringly. "Thanks for bringing me out there to get my phone." She closed the car door and waved at them before she hurried up the stairs of her porch. Digging her keys out of her bag, she opened her front door and made her way inside. The house was completely silent, letting her know her mom had already taken off for work.

Climbing the stairs, she made her way to her room, tossing her bag at the end of her bed before she slumped down in her desk chair and dragged a hand over her face. Her lack of glasses was yet another reminder that things had been all too strange lately. Felicity had been wearing glasses since she was a kid. So this on-and-off good eyesight thing was just plain _weird_. Taking a seat at her desk, she stripped her jacket off and laid it behind her on the chair. Kicking her boots off, she stretched her toes and bent forward, dropping her elbows down on her desk. Frustrated and not sure what to do, she spent a few minutes thinking it over.

' _Nothing is what it seems_.'

Felicity turned her head then. She reached for the top drawer of her desk and dug around in it, coming out with a book. Inside, tucked between the pages, were three things: a photo, an obituary, and a necklace. The obituary was a long strip of tiny block writing. The photo was of two boys, their arms around each other's shoulders, grinning wide at the camera. And the necklace… A long chain with an arrow charm at the end. She held the necklace aloft, watching the bottom twist and turn, before letting it pool in the center of her palm.

* * *

 ** _Two Years Ago_**

* * *

"I'm sorry, you _what_?" Felicity closed her locker door and turned, books hugged to her chest. She had to tip her head back to see him, towering over her by a good five inches. Oliver Queen was handsome. He'd been cute when they were kids, almost as cute as his cousin, Tommy Merlyn, but then puberty hit and suddenly, well, there was a reason people giggled when he walked by. He sprouted up and filled out and now he was, in Iris' words, _hunky_. Of course, he knew that and he used it to his advantage whenever possible. Felicity would _not_ be swayed, she told herself.

"I need a tutor."

"Okay..." Her brow furrowed. "Did you want a recommendation? Laurel Lance is top of her class."

His gaze darted away and then back. "Second in class, right?"

"If you want to get technical." Felicity shrugged. "She also tutors on the weekends; she has a whole club. They meet in in the library on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I think. Not really my scene, but whatever floats your boat."

"You're not a team player?" He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He was wearing a letterman's jacket and when he tipped his chin down, a tendril of hair fell across his too-blue eyes. It was like something out of a TV show. Too handsome, too perfect, too ridiculously chiseled…

"I'm more of an independent soul. You know, sit in the bleachers and cheer on the athletically inclined with a cheerful 'hooray' whenever necessary." She fist-pumped. "Go Arrowheads."

"Hockey?" He pursed his lips. "Not a football fan?"

"Actually, I'm more of a basketball girl. My best friend is on the team."

"Sara Lance, right?" He nodded. "She's good."

"She's _awesome_." Felicity tipped her head. "Also not a fan of math though, so I'm not sure I'd recommend her for what you need. Unless math isn't what you're actually talking about, in which case, I try to stay out of my friend's romantic lives. Not that I'm assuming you'd only compliment Sara because you wanted to date her. She has a lot of merits outside of dating. She's an excellent marksman, for example. Not something you hear a lot, because _hello_ , archery, so archaic. But, she seems to love it and she's great at it, so..." Felicity flushed and took a deep breath. "Anyway, not the point. I don't think you tracked me down because you wanted to listen to me babble, which I will stop doing in 3... 2... 1."

His mouth turned up slowly. "What are you doing Wednesday?"

"This Wednesday?" Felicity's gaze turned away thoughtfully. "I have a history project due next week, so I'll probably take some time to work on that. Maybe, I don't know. I've also got a computer program I've been working on. It's kind of in the beginning stages of, well, I'm still not sure. But it's going somewhere, I can feel it."

"My mom is willing to pay for tutoring lessons. And my Aunt Rebecca will cover Tommy. I'm kind of in a bind here. If I don't get my algebra grade up, the vice principal is threatening to bench me for the season..."

Felicity blinked at him. "Which I assume is a bad thing."

"It is, yeah. So... the tutoring would be a huge favor. To me. I would seriously appreciate it."

"Uh-huh." She stared at him. "And you're busy Tuesdays and Thursdays, which is why you can't join Laurel's tutoring group?"

"Laurel's great. But you're at the top of your class... _Every_ class." He stared down at her. "I need help, fast, and I think you're the right person for that."

She pursed her lips. "Why?"

He shrugged. "You don't think you can do it?"

Bristling at the suggestion, she frowned at him. "What? Teach you algebra? I _know_ I could."

"Great." He grinned. "So, Wednesday then? My mom wants to meet you before you're hired, but that should be easy. We can meet at my place. It'll be totally above board, I swear. My parents will be there, my aunt and uncle, too. We live out at—"

"The giant mansion on the hill, yeah, I know." Felicity shook her head. "I didn't agree."

Oliver sighed. "What do I need to do to get you to do this?"

" _If_ I agree to this... I expect results. That means that I'll quiz you, frequently. I'll expect you to be there when you say you will. I'm not going to waste my time if you're not going to be there to do the work."

He nodded quickly.

"And if I think you're slacking off or you're not trying hard enough, I reserve the right to quit. As much as this is about getting your grade up, and even though I'm getting paid, I don't have to be there."

"Okay. Deal." He thrust a hand out.

Felicity glanced at it and then reached out. His hand was huge in comparison, swamping hers. She gave it a quick, hard shake, and then let go. "So, Wednesday?"

He smiled. "Wednesday."

( ******* )

Moira Queen was terrifying. She was the literal embodiment of 'control' where Felicity felt like a walking example of the opposite. Sure, when it came to school and computers, she was a whiz, but everything else, like social grace, she was terrible at. Her mouth liked to get ahead of itself and word vomit on unsuspecting victims whenever it pleased. Her feet were as uncoordinated as they come. So, no, she didn't feel like she was the type of person Moira was expecting when Oliver introduced her as his new tutor.

Felicity sat down with Moira over tea which, ew. She didn't even _like_ tea. She was a firm believer in coffee and all of its special powers. But, Moira insisted and Felicity felt like it might be rude to decline, so she held the very small, very delicate tea cup on a saucer atop her knee, and tried to look some semblance of put together.

"Oliver says you're at the top of your class," Moira said, staring at her.

"I am, yes. Laurel Lance is a close second. I recommended her to Oliver, but he wasn't sure he could make it to her tutoring group." She shrugged. "I should pre-empt this by saying I've never tutored anyone before. Not that I don't think I could do it. I do. I've never really wanted to be a teacher, it's not really my jam, but I'm good at algebra. Really good, actually. And I think I could teach it to Oliver, as long as he's willing to learn."

"That is an important aspect of it." Moira peered at her thoughtfully. "You think you could keep him focused? He sometimes has trouble with that. Especially when... girls are involved."

"Oh." Felicity felt her face flame. "No, it's not... It is definitely _not_ like that. I'm here to teach him algebra, that's it. I don't want or expect anything else. Except payment. Because he did say it was a paying gig, and that's kind of a deal breaker."

Moira's mouth turned up faintly. "It will be paid."

"Oh, good." Felicity nodded. "Anyway, to answer your question, yes, I think I can keep him focused. Him _and_ Tommy. Oliver said he also needed help with algebra."

"Yes, well, much as they're both doing well in football— and we're proud of their accomplishments, of course— we _are_ worried about their grades. Since Oliver and Tommy spend so much of their time together anyway, it makes sense to have them both tutored. Are you sure you can handle them both?"

"Yes." Felicity was firm, biting her tongue before it could get her into anymore trouble. "I don't know them well. Mostly in passing. But I take school very seriously."

Moira gazed at her a long beat and then nodded. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"You're hired."

( ******* )

Oliver groaned, long and dramatic, as he slumped down in his seat.

Felicity rolled her eyes. "Are you going to do that all night? Because we have work to do..."

"We've been at this for _hours_."

"More like one hour. _Singular_. Oliver, it's not going to get easier until you get the hang of it. For that to happen, I need you to focus."

He sighed and lifted his head, staring at her with what could only be called a _pout_. "I'm hungry."

"Nobody's stopping you from eating. Grab all the snacks you want, just as long as you eat them _while_ you solve these problems."

He sighed, but stood from the kitchen table and made his way to the cupboard, digging around before he came back with an entire box of granola bars.

Felicity blinked. "Seriously?"

"I'm a growing boy," he defended, tearing one open and biting off half as he leaned over and glared at the paper in front of him. "What do I even need to know all this junk for anyway? I'm gonna be a pro-football player. I can pay people to crunch numbers for me."

"That's how people go into debt," she said with a snort. "Anyway, pro-football career or not, you need to pass this class to play. So, get to it." She tapped the paper with a purple-tipped finger.

Oliver caught it, hooking his finger around hers and lifting it. "Purple today? What happened to the green? I like green."

Felicity raised an eyebrow. "It was time for a change."

He hummed. "It was blue before. Do you repaint them every week?"

She tugged her finger away from him. "Since when do you pay so much attention to my nail polish choices?"

Oliver shrugged and popped the rest of his granola bar in his mouth. "Just asking," he said through his mouthful.

"Uh-huh." She stacked her hands together. "Well, ask me something about math."

"How come Tommy's not doing it?" he groused.

" _Tommy_ finished his assigned homework _yesterday_."

He rolled his eyes. "I was busy."

"Which is why you and I are sitting here, arguing about it."

He smirked. "I like to call it a 'friendly debate.'"

"And I'd like to call what you're doing 'work,' but I can't." She raised her eyebrows. "I need to get home sometime tonight, Oliver."

"Fine..." He sighed and picked up his pencil. "But, I want my protest on the record."

She smothered a smile. "It's duly noted."

( ******* )

Sara threw darts at a board hanging on the wall of her bedroom, the walls painted a bright and cheerful canary yellow. "So, you spend _every_ Wednesday at Oliver Queen's house and all you do is talk numbers? You've got him and Tommy Merlyn right there in front of you and you just... teach them algebra?" She shook her head. "What a waste."

Felicity rolled her eyes. "I'm their tutor. That's what I was hired to do."

"Sure, but couldn't there be a rewards system?" Sara grinned at her. "Seriously, I've kissed Tommy. Last summer, seven minutes of heaven, he lived up to his reputation."

Scrunching up her nose, she shook her head. "Gross."

" _Not_ gross and that was my point. I mean, I'm not gonna propose marriage to the guy anytime soon, but he's definitely worth kissing. And he's funny. Which, half the battle, really. If they can't make you laugh, drop 'em."

Felicity sighed. "I'm not trying to date or kiss either of them. I just want to teach them algebra and get paid."

"How much are you getting? It can't be that much, you only see them once a week."

She shrugged. "We meet up on the weekends sometimes, too. It depends on their football schedule. Anyway, the money is good. Way better than I was getting babysitting."

"Yeah? Do they have any kids that want basketball lessons? Or, _ooh_ , archery!"

Felicity snorted. "I'll ask."

"Cool." Tossing the dart, Sara smiled as it landed in the center, and then dusted her hands off proudly. "Anyway, enough guy talk. I want a milkshake. How's Big Belly sound?"

Felicity groaned. "Amazing. Let's go."

(***)

"How'd I do?" Oliver shifted around in his seat, watching Felicity mark the 'pop quiz' she'd given him. "Did I fail? I wasn't sure about the third one. I started getting a little mixed up. But, you gave us a time limit, so I just went with it..."

Felicity hummed and continued checking his math, her head down as she read through it all.

"Is that a good hum or a bad hum?" he worried. "I seriously need to be getting this. It's been weeks!" Leaning forward, he buried his face in his hands and groaned. "I can't get benched. Bowen's been begging to replace me. He's a dick, but he can throw a ball. If I lose my spot—"

"Calm down, Oliver. You did great."

Oliver looked up, surprised. "Wait, really?"

Felicity nodded. "Yeah. There were a couple mistakes in the third question, like you said, but up to that point, you were on track. It's a big improvement."

He let out a breathless laugh. "So... I'm gonna pass?"

"If you keep it up like this, then yeah. Definitely."

He grinned at her. "You're a miracle worker."

She shook her head. "I'm really not."

"No, seriously, Felicity, you're… remarkable."

Feeling her face warm, she looked away. "Thank you for remarking on it."

Oliver grabbed up his quiz and marveled at it. "So... What's next?"

She looked up then, meeting his eyes, pleasantly surprised. Grabbing his algebra book, she opened it to where he'd left off. "Now, we take a look at this week's homework."

Oliver leaned forward, showing a genuine interest, and Felicity smiled.

( ******* )

At some point, Felicity started coming over early enough for tutoring that she shared dinner with the family. And dinner was no small event. Oliver had two brothers, one older and one younger— William was 18 and Connor was 8— and a younger sister, Thea, who was 10. Tommy also lived in the house with his older sister, Helena, and his parents, Malcolm and Rebecca. According to Tommy, Moira and Rebecca were sisters who had inherited the large estate from their parents.

"Does everyone just take a wing or what?" Felicity wondered.

Tommy snorted. "Kind of, yeah. Except for meals, my family mostly keeps to one side of the property."

"Your sister, too?"

"When she can." He shrugged. "She's in college, so she comes back on the weekend, mostly. Or whenever dad freezes her credit card to get some face time."

Felicity smiled. "I guess that's one way."

Tommy tucked his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "What about you? What's it like at Casa Smoak?"

"Uh, nothing like this, that's for sure." She scuffed a foot on the marble floor. "It's just me and my mom. My dad took off when I was a kid. Couldn't tell you where he wound up. But, my mom's been great. She works a lot."

"She manages the casino, doesn't she?"

Just on the outskirts of town, Shooting Star Casino was kind of a big deal. When it was first in development, the town had protested it heavily. A lot of church-goers complained that it would become a 'den of iniquity and sin,' but it had been pushed through anyway. And, for all that the town complained, a good chunk of it still went out and spent their hard-earned money there. Donna Smoak had been managing it basically since the doors opened. She'd started out at the poker table, but soon made herself invaluable to the company and had taken over the general day-to-day managing of it. Which meant she sometimes kept some strange hours.

"Yup. She's got the sparkly vest with a #1 Manager pin to show for it." Felicity crossed her arms over her chest. "It pays the bills, I guess."

"Hey, no judgement from me." Tommy shook his head. "I honestly couldn't tell you what my dad does. I know he makes good money and he travels a lot, but that's about the extent of what I know."

"Ooh, a mystery. Okay, international hitman."

"International drug smuggler." He grimaced. "Don't ask me where he hides it..."

She snorted. "Cirque du Soleil gymnast. All of his traveling is to Las Vegas."

His head fell back as he laughed. "Professional cheerleader for Celine Dion."

"Is that a job?" She looked up at him.

"I don't know. You said Vegas and that's the first person that came to mind."

Felicity shook her head. "Personal lion tamer, a la Siegfried and Roy."

"Oh, I like that. I can see him in one of those sparkly white jumpsuits. I mean, I don't _want_ to see it... But I _can_."

She giggled.

And then a little girl with wild brown curls came running through the house; her socks caught on the marble floor and sent her careening into Felicity.

" _Whoa!_ " Felicity caught her before she fell and looked down at the bundle of energy.

"Thanks," she chirped and then darted behind her. "Human shield!"

"Not fair!" a blond boy shouted, rushing into the room. "Thea, we said no shields!"

"I lied!" Thea hooked her hands in the tail-end of Felicity's shirt. "Anyway, she's not family."

"Oh, so I'm expendable, huh?" Felicity turned her head back to see the girl.

Thea shrugged. "I gotta work with odds I got. It's not personal."

Felicity's mouth turned up. "Well, as long as it's not personal..."

"Tommy," the boy complained, stomping his foot. "Make Thea play fair."

"She's her own lady, my friend." Tommy reached out and rustled the boy's hair. "Shouldn't you two be cleaning up for dinner anyway?"

The boy shrunk away then and ran in the direction he came from. "You'll never make me!"

Thea poked her head out and then grinned toothily at Tommy. "I like your strategy, cous."

He snorted. "Glad I could help. Go find Connor, though. Your mom's expecting everyone at dinner."

" _Fine_..." She dragged her feet as she walked in the direction her brother had run away in.

"Well, that was interesting..." Felicity frowned. "How have I never met them before?"

"Aunt Moira told them to stay away from the kitchen during tutoring lessons. But, now that you're coming around earlier, you're going to have to meet the whole crazy brood."

She half-smiled. "That might not be so bad."

"You say that now." He pointed at her. "You've only met the best of us, though."

Felicity rolled her eyes. "Is the whole family as humble as you and Oliver?"

Tommy smirked. "Does our confidence intimidate you?"

"No," she said, raising an eyebrow. "Should it?"

He shook his head. "Definitely not."

( ******* )

"We should do something."

Felicity looked up from her phone to see Oliver tapping his pencil against a half-finished list of algebra questions. "We _are_ doing something."

"No, like, not _math_ something..." He leaned back in his chair. "Like, see a movie or something."

"Oliver..." She pursed her lips at him.

"What about a break? A _small_ one." He stared at her searchingly. "We could take a walk around the property."

"The property? Your back yard is basically the woods..." She looked past his shoulder to the window. Night had fallen and a half-moon cast a glow over the treeline that wandered close to the house. "Doesn't that ever creep you out?"

Oliver shrugged. "Nope."

"Really? You never worry about wild animals or anything?"

A slow smile pulled at his mouth. "Not really."

Felicity raised an eyebrow. "Right, I forgot you're a big, bad football player. You can tackle _bears_."

He chuckled lowly. "We don't get a lot of bears out here, especially this close to town. I think we're fine. At worst, we might have a few racoons digging around the garbage."

She hummed. "Still. They're just creepy at night."

"Only because you let them be." He leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. "It's all in your head. Fear, limitations, all of it. Once you get past that, nothing has to scare you."

"Nothing?" She stared at him. "Life isn't a football game where if you score the most goals, you walk away with a trophy. There's plenty out there that you can't just out-run."

"Out-think, out-move, out-do. If you choose not to be scared, then you walk away the winner."

"What happens to the loser?"

He shrugged. "Who cares?"

Felicity stared at him. "Big words for a guy who can't get through an hour of algebra."

He ducked his head as he laughed and when he looked back up, his eyes were bright. "You got me."

"No more distractions." She tapped his paper.

"I can't help it if you're distracting."

Felicity rolled her eyes. "That Oliver Queen charm of yours isn't going to work on me."

"Are you sure?"

She glanced at him and smothered a smile when she spotted how wide his grin was. "Focus, Oliver."

"I am." He stared at her a beat longer, and then dragged the paper closer and dropped his attention to it.

Felicity felt her stomach twist up in knots but breathed through it and turned her gaze back to her phone, where Iris' texts were piling up, unanswered.

( ******* )

" _Pssst!_ "

Felicity looked up from the books laid open in front of her. Confused, she looked around the seemingly empty kitchen and found no one the noise could have come from. Oliver was upstairs showering before they sat down to study, leaving Felicity to wait so they could get started.

"Down here," a voice said.

Felicity's gaze fell. Shifting in her seat at the kitchen table, she turned sideways, ducking her head down to find two children sitting shoulder to shoulder on the floor. "Oh… Hey there," she greeted, smiling at them.

Thea and Connor stared up at her cheerfully.

"Any particular reason you're under the table?"

"We're on a mission," Thea informed her. "You wanna come?"

Felicity puckered her lips and hummed. "What kind of mission?"

"The kind with _treasure!_ " Connor said excitedly. For a moment, Felicity could swear his eyes had lit with a golden hue. But a blink later and his eyes were back to green.

"You have to keep it a secret though," Thea said.

"Yeah, you can't tell Ollie or Tommy." Connor shook his head solemnly. "'Cause they're pirates, see. They'll keep it all."

"That's sound logic," Felicity agreed. "All right. I've got a little time to spare, so let's adventure away."

"This way!" Thea turned over onto her stomach and started army crawling her way out from under the table. Connor followed right behind her.

Felicity stood from the table and made her way to the kitchen door. While Thea pushed the door open to peek around the corner, Felicity moved to the side and pressed against the wall. "All clear?" she whispered.

Thea nodded up at her and then crawled out through the door, holding it open and waving Connor and Felicity through.

Getting into character, Felicity fell to her knees and started army crawling with them.

The Queen-Merlyn mansion was anything but small, with long corridors and winding staircases. Thea and Connor seemed to have a route planned out though. They went down the hallway from the kitchen to the foyer, where a table sat with a large vase of always-fresh flowers. Family pictures dressed the walls and table. In a line, one behind the other, they crawled their way past the foyer and around the corner, leaving the marble flooring behind for plush white carpet. Connor stilled next to two tall doors, glancing back at Thea, who turned to Felicity and pressed a finger to her mouth in a silent 'shushing' manner. Felicity nodded back.

As they quietly moved past the door, Felicity recognized it as the one Tommy had pointed out as leading to Robert Queen's office. The children kept moving, climbing up a short set of stairs that led into the theater room. From there, they stood and flipped the lights on.

"Come on!" Thea hurried over to the seating at the back of the room, climbed atop a chair and reached high above, to where the projector sat. In a corner, she dug out a bag, where their 'loot' sat. They had a collection of chocolate dollars inside. Thea took great in joy in holding it above and letting out a proud ' _arrr!_ '

Connor joined her and then thrust a hand out, wanting his part of their winnings.

Thea gave him two chocolates, took two for herself, and then handed two more to Felicity. With that, she hid them back where she found them, hopped off the chair and made her way to the door.

"Do you always keep them there?" Felicity wondered.

Connor shook his head. "We move it so they can't find it. Momma gives us one when we do extra chores, so we save 'em up." He scrunched up his nose then. "Tommy's a chocolate hog. He'll eat it all."

"Ollie, too," Thea agreed.

Felicity sighed along with them. "Smart thinking hiding it then."

They grinned up at her, chocolate already staining their mouths.

"And thank you for sharing it with me. I had a pretty big dinner though, so if you want to keep these…" She offered one chocolate to each of them.

They stared at the proffered dollars, shared a look, and then snatched it from her outstretched fingers.

"I like you. You can be on my all-girl pirate ship," Thea told her.

"What about me?" Connor asked, frowning.

"You can swab the deck." Thea laughed as she ran out the door.

Connor sighed and rolled his eyes. To Felicity, he said, "I'm gonna have a parrot and I'm gonna teach him all the bad words."

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

Connor giggled. " _Poop_."

Felicity snorted. "You're a real rebel, kid."

He puffed his chest out proudly and then tore off out of the room, chasing after his sister.

Shaking her head, Felicity followed after him, flipping the light off and making her way down the hall. She was careful when passing their dad's office, a little wary of the man she only ever seemed to see in passing. Making her way out to the foyer, she took a spin around, not entirely sure which way she was about to go.

"Hey!" Oliver walked down the stairs toward her, half-grinning as he rubbed a towel over his dripping hair. "Did you get lost again?"

She put her hands to her hips. "In my defense, this place is _huge_."

He chuckled lightly. "Come on. Kitchen's this way." He hung the towel around his neck and smiled down at her. "You gonna go easy on me today?"

She scoffed. "When have I ever?"

His smile widened.

( ******* )

Felicity was mid-text with Sara while Tommy raided his bedroom for the algebra homework he somehow managed to lose every week when Rebecca Merlyn swanned into the kitchen. Rebecca always seemed like the softer of the two sisters. Where Moira could sometimes come off as cold, Rebecca was kind and gentle. Felicity had seen her in the newspaper a few thousand times for supporting local charities and personally spending her weekends at the animal shelter. Felicity knew that Moira spent a lot of money on charities too, but her approach seemed more distant than her sister's.

"Felicity," Rebecca greeted with a smile. "Let me guess, Tommy's lost his homework again."

"It's starting to become a tradition at this point, I'm kind of used to it." She shrugged lightly. "We have lots of time; it'll be fine."

"I don't think I've thanked you for all the work you've put in helping the boys." She prepared a cup of coffee for herself while talking over her shoulder. "Tommy's grades are really picking up and not just in algebra. I always knew he _could_ , but once he got into sports, everything else became secondary." Coffee in hand, she moved toward the table, resting her hip against it. "What about you? What do you get up to outside of school?"

Felicity shifted in her seat to see her better. "I'm a computer geek. I like to put them together from scratch, see what kind of improvements I can make."

"Really?" Her brows hiked. "That's amazing. I've never been particularly good with technology, but I can admire a talent when I see one."

"We kind of lucked out, growing up with in-house computers." She rushed to add, "Not that I'm calling you _old_. You aren't!"

Rebecca smiled lightly. "It's fine. I understand what you mean. Computers weren't as common as they are now. When I was growing up, we spent most of our time outside. It's a value we've tried to instill in the kids. Being so close to the woods helps, too. There's plenty of trails to hike. Once you get Thea outside, it's hard to get her out of the trees."

"Yeah, she's got spider-monkey written all over her."

"You should come with us sometime. We try to fit a hike in a few times a month. The falls are beautiful this time of year."

Felicity nodded. "As long as you don't hold my complete lack of hiking experience against me then yeah, that'd be great. I'd love to."

"Great. We'll set something up then."

"We'll what now?" Tommy swung into the kitchen, his brow furrowed curiously. "Don't tell me you're stealing my tutor. I finally found my homework. It was in my desk drawer, under a questionable pb and j sandwich… Let the record show, I haven't had one of those in _months_ and I blame Connor."

Felicity grimaced. "I'm going to have to keep my distance if any of that pb touched the paper. I'm allergic to nuts." She pointed cautiously to her bag. "I do have an epi pen though, just in case I start swelling up."

Tommy glanced from his homework to her. "I can probably find some gloves for you to wear, just in case."

She nodded. "Sure. Can't hurt."

"All the same," Rebecca said. "I'm here if you need me."

"Mom's a trained nurse," Tommy explained, motioning to her with a thumb.

"Oh! That's cool."

"It's helped with so many children running around." Rebecca patted Felicity's shoulder then and pushed off the table. "Let me know if you feel anything. Even a scratchy throat, all right?"

Felicity saluted. "Will do."

Smiling lightly, Rebecca left them to their work.

Meanwhile, Tommy left and returned with a pair of oversized gardening gloves. "Best I can do."

Felicity snorted, but took them, sliding them onto her hands. "This'll work."

"All right…" He took a seat across from her and rubbed his hands together. "Arithmetic me."

"You know algebra and arithmetic aren't interchangeable, right?"

He stared at her blankly.

Felicity sighed.

( ******* )

"Hey!" A breathless and excited Oliver found Felicity at her locker, his arm wrapping low around her waist and turning her to face him. "Look!"

Felicity was briefly startled by the physically, before her gaze centered on the paper in his hand. It was the quiz he'd taken the Friday previous. "A B+!" She grinned. "Oliver, that's amazing!"

He beamed at her. "I couldn't have done it without you."

She felt a blush fill her cheeks. "Of course you could. This was all your hard work paying off, seriously."

Oliver turned the page back toward him so he could see his grade and she watched satisfaction and joy fill his face. "My mom's going to _flip_."

She laughed warmly. "She should. You worked really hard for this."

"I did." He nodded. "I'm gonna get it framed. You can hang it on your wall. Proof that you're a literal genius and can teach just about anybody."

Felicity rolled her eyes. "You're too hard on yourself." She plucked the test from his hand and pressed it against the lockers. Digging a red pen out of her pocket, she scrawled a little note out under his mark. _–proof that oliver queen can do whatever he sets his mind to—_ She added a smiley face to the end and handed it back to him. "Frame it and keep it for yourself." The bell rang then and she smiled at him. "I've gotta go. I'll see you later, okay?"

Oliver stared down at the paper a long moment and then nodded. "Uh, yeah." He looked up and searched her face. "Hey, are we still on for tonight?"

Her brow furrowed. "Tonight? Don't you have a game?"

"I do. I was hoping you'd come to it."

"Oh." Her brows hiked. "Uh, sure. Yeah, I... I can do that."

"Great." He leaned over and popped a kiss on her cheek. "Thank you."

Before Felicity could respond, he was off, rushing down the hallway to hook his arm around Tommy's neck and show him his test score.

She stared after him, her heart thudding in her chest. " _Frak_."

( ******* )

"If you keep this up, you'll make us all look bad."

Felicity snorted as she looked up from the sink of dishes in front of her, her arms elbow-deep in soapy water. "I'm just trying to help. It was nice of your aunt to make dinner."

Tommy shrugged. "She likes having you around." Leaning over, he stage-whispered, "She thinks you're a good influence."

Felicity passed him a clean plate and he took it, pulling the towel off his shoulder to dry it before he stacked it next to him. "Probably why she hired me to tutor you guys."

"Who knew friendship could grow from such terrible roots?" He grinned.

"Who said I was you friend, Merlyn?" She raised an eyebrow. "Maybe I'm just playing nice because I like Moira's cooking."

"Then you're gonna be really disappointed to find out dinner was mostly Oliver. Aunt Moira's not much of a cook. Great at calling for take-out, not great at making food from scratch." He shrugged. "We've all got our burdens to bear."

"Oliver? Really?" Her nose scrunched up, surprised. "I didn't take him for the cooking type."

"No?" He wiggled his eyebrows at her. "What _did_ you take him for?"

Felicity felt a hot flush fill her face. "Shut up. It's not like that."

Tommy hummed, but didn't look convinced. He took the next plate from her and went about wiping it dry. "You know, Ollie's the one that told Aunt Moira she should hire you. He went on a whole tangent about how you were the smartest person he knew. I took personal offense."

"I'm sure you did."

He smiled. "I'll admit, neither of us are any good at math—"

"Both of you get math just fine. You just don't _like_ it, so you don't put any effort in."

"See, that's what you're here for. You make us work at it."

"At homework? Just what I want to be remembered for," she joked.

"No, in general." Tommy shrugged. "Everything's always come easy to us. I'll be the first to admit it. I mean, good looks, charm, money—"

"And you're so humble, too."

His mouth split in a smile. "Of course."

She tipped her head at him. "You were acknowledging your privilege, please, go on."

"My _point_ was that you're the only one who made Oliver want to be more than just what he already is."

She scrunched her nose up. "I haven't."

"You _have_." He stared at her searchingly. "Look, I know my cousin. We've been thick as thieves since birth. But, when you grow up like we have, getting everything handed to you on a platter, you get used to things. Like, always getting your way. Ollie's always been the best at everything he's ever done. Nobody says no to him and nobody gets in his way. That's how it's always been. And, I thought he liked it like that, you know...? But, then you came along and you didn't make anything easy. He couldn't just smile at you and get you to do his math homework for him—"

"Worst plan ever."

"—or flirt with you a bit and get you to give him the answers to the pop quiz—"

"Like I just keep a key to the quiz on my person?"

"I'm _saying_..." He laughed lightly, "being your friend took work, Smoak. Getting you to like him took work. And for some reason, instead of telling his mom he wanted someone else, someone easier for him to manipulate, he stuck with you."

"Be still my heart," she muttered.

"I'm explaining this wrong." He huffed. "I just want you to know that, for Oliver, that's a big step. Like, monumental even."

"Are you trying to tell me that I'm the reason Oliver's maturing? Because that's not on me. He's fifteen. He doesn't need me to hold his hand."

"No, but he did need a kick in the ass." Tommy shrugged. "Look, even if you don't want to admit it, you're our friend. You have been since first grade, when you caught me with a marble stuck up my nose and instead of ratting me out and nailing me with a nickname I'd never come back from, you helped me get it out."

"Not your brightest moment."

"I was a precocious five-year-old. I like to think I've grown up some."

"Maybe a little," she allowed, a smile pulling at her mouth.

Tommy huffed a laugh and bumped his hip against hers. "Anyway, even if you don't like him, you have to like _me_." He batted his eyes at her comically.

Felicity snorted. "You're all right."

"I'll take it."

( ******* )

"Hey, it's Felicity, right?"

Felicity looked up from the shelf of lipsticks she was staring at indecisively. "Huh? What?" A few feet away stood a girl; long black hair, bright blue eyes, and unfairly pretty, by all standards. "Oh, Helena! Hey!" Felicity had only really met Helena a few times in passing, seeing as she was in college and usually only visited on weekends. But, there were a few occasions where she'd show back up, usually annoyed and ranting at her parents for 'invading her independence.' "No school today?"

"I took a personal day." Helena shrugged. "What about you? Shouldn't you be nose-deep in an algebra book or something?"

"Usually, yes. But I had a dentist appointment, which took up most of my morning. Now that the freezing has finally worn off and I'm no longer biting myself accidentally, I decided to treat myself to a new lipstick." She motioned to her mouth and then pointed to Helena. "Any suggestions? You seem to be a better lipstick guru than myself."

Helena half-grinned. "The brighter the better. You wanna draw the focus to your best asset."

"Considering how much trouble my mouth usually gets me into, I'm not sure it _is_ an asset." She paused and rethought her wording. "Did that sound sexual? Because I didn't mean it that way. By trouble I meant like _this_ , where I say something without the right context and it blows up in my face."

Chuckling under her breath, Helena shook her head. "It's fine. I get it. And seriously, a good pink lipstick never hurt anybody." She reached past Felicity to pluck up a tube of the _pinkest_ lipstick on the shelf and handed it to hr. "At worst, you spend a few bucks on a short-lived adventure. At best, you find your new color." With a wink, Helena turned on her heel and left, waving over her shoulder as she went. "See ya around, Smoak!"

"Bye! And thanks!" she called back.

After Helena left, Felicity admired the lipstick she'd been offered and, after a short argument with herself, she took it up to the counter. As adventures went, it was a small one, but she was excited to see how it would turn out.

Helena, as it turned out, had the right idea. And Felicity found her color.

( ******* )

Oliver was in a mood. A dark one. He was glaring down at his paper, tapping his pencil against the table loudly.

Felicity watched him for a few minutes before eventually reaching out and covering his hand with hers, the pencil trapped between them.

He looked up, surprised and confused.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Fine," he grunted.

"Really? Because if you kept tapping your pencil like that, you were going to dent the table."

He glanced down at her hand still covering his and grimaced. "Sorry. Just... Caught up in my head."

She hummed. "You wanna talk about it?"

Oliver licked his lips, his brow furrowed, and didn't reply for a little while. Felicity waited. If she'd learned anything over the last two months, it was that Oliver needed to come to his own conclusions in his own time. He would talk when he was ready and not a moment sooner. Sitting back in her chair, she let him pick apart whatever was in his head. He'd been in this mood since she arrived. He'd been fine at school. Laughing and joking with Tommy whenever she spotted him. But, as soon as she got to his house, something had changed. His good mood of earlier had been replaced with this. Annoyed, distant, and caught up in his head.

"It's my dad," he finally said, his voice quiet and dull. "He's been on my case."

"About school?"

He shrugged. "School, football, college, all of it..."

Felicity frowned. "College?"

"He wants me to stay close to home. He doesn't think pro-football is the right career choice."

"Oh." Felicity stared at him. "I guess that'd hurt to hear."

He snorted and fell back against his chair. "My whole life, football's been the only thing I was good at. Couldn't get a math question right, but I could throw a ball better than anyone else." He shook his head. "You know how many games he's gone to?" He didn't wait for her to guess. "Three." He scoffed. "Since pee-wee, he's made it to three of my games..."

"That's rough."

"Yeah." He laughed hollowly. "It could've been anything, you know. I could be the best student in the class. Best football player to ever live. I could be a certified genius and it wouldn't be enough for him. Because _nothing_ is enough for him. My brother Will, he started college last year, you think my dad congratulated him? _Nope_. Just told him to make sure he visited on the weekends so mom wouldn't miss him too much."

Felicity let out a slow breath. She leaned forward and covered Oliver's hand once more. "Hey."

He looked over at her, his eyes sad and his mouth pressed flat in a line.

"I know a thing or two about shitty dads," she told him. "And the biggest lesson I learned was that I can't live my life for someone else. My dad's gone and, even if he comes back, it won't change that he left in the first place. So, whatever I do, I have to do it for me. Whether that would make him angry or proud or _whatever_. I do what I need to for my own happiness... I don't know your dad well, but I like to think I know you. And you're a good person, Oliver. You eat way too many granola bars, you're not great at sitting still for long periods of time, you flirt about as much as you breathe, and for someone so confident, your self-esteem can be a little wonky. But, you're kind and you're smart and you're a pretty good football player, too. All the other stuff, you'll figure it out. Where you want to go to college, who you want to be, what you want out of life, you don't need to know those answers right now... You're fifteen. You've got time."

Oliver stared at her a long beat and then he let out a heavy sigh, his mouth tilting up faintly. "Thank you." He rubbed his fingers over the top of her hand. "Seriously."

She smiled. "Any time."

A few more seconds passed and then he tore his eyes away from her and frowned down at the paper in front of him. "What, uh, what were we working on?"

Felicity switched over into tutor mode and tried to ignore how her heart was beating a little too quick.

( ******* )

Felicity went to Oliver's last football game of the season a week into November, dragging Iris and Sara along with her. On the bench below theirs, Moira, Thea and Connor Queen sat together, alongside Rebecca and Helena Merlyn. Robert Queen was noticeably absent. So, Felicity cheered loud enough for the both of them.

Thea split her time between bugging her younger brother and peppering Felicity with random questions. She was a curious kid that was easily bored; so, she was exactly like Oliver. Halfway through the game, Thea traded her seat by Connor for one next to Felicity.

"Do you have gummy worms? Tommy says you give him gummy worms when he does good on his tests."

"Does well," she corrected, before digging around in her purse and coming up with a baggy of gummy worms. "Here. Knock yourself out."

Eyes lit up excitedly, Thea tore the bag open and dangled a green and white worm over her mouth, chomping down on the middle and tearing it in half with her teeth. She spun the remaining piece between her fingers. "I'm gonna be a ballerina when I'm older," she informed Felicity. "That or maybe a fashion designer. Or maybe both, I haven't decided yet."

"Big goals," Felicity praised. "I like it."

Thea nodded. "What about you?"

"Me? I'm going to MIT. I'm gonna be a tech mogul. Take over the world, that kind of thing."

"Will you be a nice overlord?"

Her mouth kicked up. "Nine times out of ten."

"Will you have minions?"

"Sure. Of the robot variety."

"So, it'll be like a robot apocalypse then?"

"More like a gentle siege."

"Huh." Thea popped the other half of her worm in her mouth. "Can I rule a small country?"

Felicity grinned. "I'll definitely keep you in mind for the position."

"Cool." With that, she made her way back to her seat next to Connor and offered him a gummy worm.

Much like his sister, he bit it in half and then dangled the other piece above him and dropped it into his gaping mouth. Kids were so weird.

Felicity shook it off and turned her attention back to the field. Oliver was on the sidelines, his helmet off, skin flushed and sweaty. He looked serious, his whole face set with determination. It was a good look on him. Actually, most looks favored him. Really, it was unfair how good looking he was, in every respect.

As if he'd heard her thoughts, he looked up and right at her. He grinned and tipped his chin up in what she was pretty sure was supposed to be a nod of hello. Before she could ponder it much longer, he was drawn back into the huddle, and then they were moving into formation.

"I have no idea what's happening," Felicity said to Iris next to her.

"Cute boys are showing off. Just go with it." Popping a piece of popcorn in her mouth, she handed Felicity the bag to take some for herself.

With a shrug, Felicity grabbed a handful.

As it turned out, Oliver threw the winning ball and Tommy scored a touchdown. Felicity leapt off the bench, her arms thrown high above her head as she cheered. While football wasn't her favorite sport, and she only had a passing understanding of how it really worked, she kind of enjoyed these games. That probably had a lot more to do with the quarterback, though. She couldn't find it in her to regret that.

( ******* )

"I'm a little surprised I'm still employed here." Felicity shrugged. "Not that I'm complaining, but now that football's done, I thought you'd want a break from math."

"Still need to pass the class or it'll mess up my chances for next year." Oliver frowned. "Why? Are you getting sick of tutoring me?"

"No." She pulled out a binder from her backpack and flipped to where a printed sheet of questions were. "I just thought you'd want your Wednesday nights back. Tommy's doing well enough that he doesn't need me anymore. And you're on track to passing with at least a B."

"Only because you help me each week. I don't know if I could do this without you."

"Oliver." She wrapped her hand around his wrist. "Don't be so hard on yourself."

He stared down at her hand for a moment and then smiled. "I like my Wednesdays how they are."

Felicity's mouth turned up slowly. "Me, too."

The kitchen door swung open then and Moira stepped through. "Don't mind me," she said. "I promised Thea and Connor they could have ice cream. I'll be out of your way in a moment."

"Oh, no need to hurry. Oliver's just working on this week's assignment." She pushed the papers toward him.

He groaned, but plucked up his pencil and got to work.

Moira hummed to herself as she got the ice cream ready. "Oliver, have you talked to Felicity about the drive-in yet? I need to plan for seating arrangements."

Felicity looked between them, her brow furrowed. "Drive-in?"

"It's a family tradition. Once a month, we all head down to the drive-in for a movie. The only day we all have available is next Wednesday."

"Oh. Well, that's fine." She split her attention between them. "We can reschedule our tutoring lesson."

He grinned at her. "I wasn't worried about that. I was gonna see if you wanted to come with. It's not a big deal. Just popcorn and hot dogs and whatever movie mom wants to see."

" _Oh_." Felicity blinked. Her heart swooped up, excitement bubbling up inside her.

"You don't have to if you don't want to." He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. "Thea was asking. She said you always have the best candy."

Felicity's excitement nose-dived abruptly. It wasn't that she didn't like Thea. She did. She just thought maybe he was asking her because _he_ wanted to and not because his ten-year-old sister wanted to eat her candy supply. "Oh. Uh... I don't know. If it's a family thing, maybe it should stay that way. I might get together with Sara and Iris..."

"Yeah. Sure, uh, no worries." He dropped his attention down to the paper, his brow furrowed and his lips pursed.

"If you change your mind," Moira said, drawing Felicity's gaze, "there'll be plenty of room for you to join us."

"Thank you, Mrs. Queen."

"Moira, dear. Call me Moira." With that, she swept out of the kitchen, two bowls of ice cream in hand.

Felicity stared at the swinging door for a moment, before returning her attention to Oliver, who quickly returned to his math homework. A swell of disappointment filled her chest and she couldn't help but feel like she'd missed something.

( ******* )

"Are you sure it was about his sister?" Iris frowned, digging around the top shelf of her locker to trade out one set of books for another. "It kind of sounds like he was asking you out..."

"Who asks someone to a _family_ thing as a date?" Felicity shook her head. "He was just being polite. His mom probably told him he should ask me. Anyway, it's fine. I'm his tutor. We shouldn't be blurring the lines like that."

Iris raised an eyebrow. "You have dinner at his place once a week and his sister sits with you at football games."

"For candy."

"She spent most of the last game asking you questions about everything you could possibly think of. At one point, she wanted to know how fast the planet would have to spin to throw her off it." Iris rolled her eyes. "She likes you. Kids always talk to people they find interesting."

"Thea's a good kid. That doesn't mean her brother wants to date me."

"No, the fact that he goes out of his way to talk to you every time he sees you and it has literally _nothing_ to do with math means he wants to date you."

"He's just a nice guy."

Iris' brows hiked. "Oliver Queen is a lot of things. Handsome, athletic, charming, funny, and even smart. Outside of math. But he's not the type of guy that casually hangs out with a girl. Literally every girl he talks to he ends up dating. It's a _thing_."

"It's not." Felicity shook her head, her ponytail swinging. "We're friends. Not even that. We're tutor and tu-tee. Is that a word? It feels wrong somehow."

Iris sighed. "Listen, Flis, I love you. But you are so blind to everything that makes you awesome. Oliver or no Oliver, you're a catch. The sooner you figure that out, the better."

Felicity leaned back against her locker and sighed.

( ******* )

Felicity wasn't sure why she was there. She didn't _plan_ on going to the drive-in, for obvious reasons, and yet, here she was, walking up and down the aisles of vehicles, in search of a family. Well, one person in particular, if she was honest. Maybe it was Iris' insistence or maybe it was just hope, but for some reason, she found herself nervously looking for Oliver, or at least one of his siblings or cousins.

"Felicity!" a familiar voice called out.

Turning on her heel, she eventually spotted Thea Queen perched atop the hood of a car, her brother Connor sitting next to her. Between them was a tall bucket of buttery popcorn. Thea waved her over from two aisles away and Felicity found herself weaving through cars to get to them. It would seem the Queen/Merlyn family had taken a few vehicles to fit their large brood. Oliver and Tommy were sitting in the back of a pick-up truck one over from where Thea and Connor were sitting.

"Ollie said you weren't coming." Thea turned her head and stuck her tongue at her brother, who rolled his eyes and shrugged in return.

Felicity smiled. "I didn't plan to, but my schedule freed itself up. Were you guys here for the first movie?"

Wednesdays were a double-showing. Two movies for the price of one.

"There were sharks. Thea jumped," Connor told her.

"Did _not!_ " she argued, glaring at him.

"Did, too!"

"Well, I'd probably jump, too," Felicity said. "Sharks are kind of scary. Not as terrifying as kangaroos, sure, but scary all the same."

"What's wrong with kangaroos?" Thea wondered, her brow puckered in confusion.

"Yeah, do tell," Tommy chimed in. "What's your bias on the kangaroo front?"

"They're just creepy. Them _and_ their pockets." She shuddered.

Oliver snorted. "You're in luck. The next movie is almost definitely kangaroo free."

"Glad to hear it." Felicity shifted around to stand at the end of the truck. "Don't tell me someone let you drive this? I know you don't have your license yet."

"Nope, this is my brother's," he said. "Will said we could use it while he hangs out with his girlfriend."

Felicity had only met Will a few times, but he was nice. Just as ridiculously handsome as Oliver, but older and quieter. The studious type where Oliver was more loud and attention-getting. "That was nice of him."

"Yup." Oliver shifted closer to the wall of the truck bed. "You coming up?"

Biting her lip, she eyed the space between Tommy and Oliver for a moment. "Are you sure?"

"Wouldn't ask if I wasn't."

"C'mon, Smoak." Tommy winked. "I won't bite unless you ask me to."

Felicity rolled her eyes and pulled herself up. She crossed the truck bed and took a seat between them, a few pillows spread out along the back for comfort. "What's the food situation like?"

"Your timing is excellent, I was just about to go stock up." Tommy pushed up so he was sitting on the edge. "Hot dog? Popcorn? Nachos? I'll buy."

"Ooh, nachos, definitely. Extra cheese. And a Coke."

"You got it." He nodded and looked to Oliver. "You want anything?"

Oliver shook his empty soda cup at him, the ice inside knocking together. "A refill?"

With a snap of his fingers, Tommy hopped off the truck and started toward the concession stand.

Felicity spread her legs out and crossed them at the ankle. "How'd you like the first movie?"

"Wasn't bad. I've already seen it, though." He shrugged, turning in his seat to look at her. "What made you change your mind?"

Felicity stared ahead at the screen, where a countdown to the beginning of the next movie was showing. "I don't know. I was gonna drop by Sara's, see if she wanted to hang out. Next thing I know, I was sneaking through the hole in the fence."

Oliver's mouth kicked up. "You snuck in?"

"They kind of expect you to have a car if you're coming to the drive-in." She shrugged. "I don't think they'll close down because I didn't pay the $4 to get in."

"You're a real rebel," he teased.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't rat me out, huh?"

He grinned at her. "I'll keep your secret."

Felicity stared up at him and felt her chest burst with warmth.

"I'm glad you came," he said.

"Yeah?"

He nodded. "I told you we should do more than math."

Felicity rolled her eyes. "If you think this means less tutoring and more movies, you've got another thing coming."

He snorted a laugh. "I already started this week's homework."

"Really?" She stared at him dubiously.

"Well, I opened the book and I looked at it… I didn't _do_ it, exactly."

Shaking her head, she bit her lip to hide a smile. "I don't think they give credit for that."

"I'm free tomorrow if you are."

"Monopolizing my Thursdays now, too?"

He nodded shamelessly. "If you'll let me."

Felicity stared up at him a beat and then nodded. "I can spare an hour."

"What are you doing Friday?"

Her brow furrowed. "You really think it'll take that long?"

"No. But there's a bonfire down by the lake. Tommy might have a hook up for fireworks."

"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me at _all_ …" She shook her head. "At the lake, huh?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "You should come. Bring your friends if you want."

Felicity chewed her lip. "I'll think about it."

"Think about what?"

Jumping, she turned to see Tommy climbing back onto the truck, carrying a cardboard box in each hand, weighed down with a few drinks and her nachos.

"The bonfire we're having Friday," Oliver told him.

"We're having a bonfire?" He paused. "Oh! _Right_. The bonfire. Duh. Yeah, yes, Felicity, you should come to that."

Felicity looked between them. "That was weird. This isn't some kind of Carrie thing, right? There's no bucket of pig's blood in the trees?"

Oliver blinked at her. "I don't know what that means."

"Uncultured swine," Tommy tisked.

Felicity sighed. "Are you sure you don't want an English tutor, too?"

Oliver's brows hiked. "Are you available?"

She smiled. "Just not on Wednesdays. They're full up."

He grinned slowly.

"All right. If you two are done, these things are heavy, and this nacho cheese is congealing fast…" Tommy handed them their snacks before taking a seat on her other side. He pulled a pack of licorice from the inside pocket of his jacket and tore it open, sticking one into his mouth and letting it dangle.

Felicity settled her back against the truck and dug into her nachos, placing her soda down beside her. As the countdown ended and the movie started, her mind wandered. To an all-too-near Friday and the implications of spending it down at the lake with Oliver Queen.

( ******* )

"We're going," Sara decided.

Felicity sighed and flopped down on her bed. "Am I overthinking this? He wasn't flirting, right? He was just letting a friend know that there's a party down at the lake… That's a totally normal, platonic, non-romantic thing… Right?"

Iris snorted. "Sure. If we weren't talking about you and Oliver, then yeah, it could definitely be a platonic thing. But it's _not_."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Felicity frowned, turning her head to see Iris, who was sitting in her desk chair, her feet propped on the corner of the bedside table.

"It means he's into you. He's _been_ into you for months. You're just completely unaware of it." She rolled her eyes. "It was cute, but now it's getting frustrating. Put the poor guy out of his misery. You obviously like him back."

"I do _not_ ," she defended, her voice a squeak. "Wait, does it look like I do? Like, is it obvious?" She looked from Iris to Sara, who exchanged a look. "Oh god, it _is_ …"

"I feel like you're missing the part where he likes you, too," Sara pointed out. "It's a mutual liking. So, just, go to the bonfire Sloppy kiss him in the bushes."

" _Sara_ …" Felicity groaned.

"She's not wrong," Iris said.

"You guys are the worst. Why aren't one of you the good influence?"

They grinned at her. Sara dive-bombed the bed and steamrolled over Felicity. "We _are_ a good influence."

Iris pushed off her chair and joined them, piling on top of Sara. "Seriously, listen to us… We'll go with you and if it gets weird or sketchy, we'll stick together. But I really think he's asking you to go so you can hang out for real. Without the books and the tutoring stuff. He _likes_ you. So, see what happens."

Felicity let out a heavy sigh, in part because of the pressure laid out on her body. "Okay," she groaned. "I'll go. Just get _off_ …" She rolled around, trying to get free.

With a laugh, they rolled to the side. The three of them were pressed together, shoulder to shoulder, staring at the ceiling. They laid there in silence for a moment, until Sara's stomach gurgled and they laughed.

"Snacks," Felicity decided, rolling off the bed.

( ******* )

"Are you sure it's not too late to go back?" Felicity shoved her hands deep in the pockets of her jacket nervously. "It's not like they'll even notice we didn't show up. It's probably packed. Nobody will even care. We can just head back to town, drop by Big Belly. I'll buy!"

Sara hooked her arm through Felicity's. "We're going. Right, Iris?"

"Right." Iris took Felicity's other arm. "If it sucks, then we'll hang around for an hour and then take off." She shrugged. "No big deal."

"An _hour_?!" Felicity looked between them. "You guys know how I am with social interaction, right? My foot and my mouth are intimately familiar with each other."

Sara pulled a face. "You'll survive. C'mon, it'll be fun."

"How are you the sheriff's daughter? Shouldn't you be telling us how many laws this whole thing is breaking? There's probably going to be underage drinking."

"Heaven forbid," she said with a snort.

"I went to a house party at Carter Bowen's place this summer; he snorted cocaine off a cheerleader's stomach," Iris told them.

"What?" Felicity squeaked. "I've never felt more underqualified to go to a party in my life."

Sara reached over and socked Iris in the arm. "You went to a party without me?"

" _Barely_. I was only there for like an hour and then I took off. I didn't even want to go." She shrugged. "Anyway, this probably won't be anything like that… Oliver hates Carter. He's probably not even invited to this thing."

"Oh, great, so the chances of cocaine are marginally smaller." Felicity threw her head back and groaned. "What's wrong with Friday night movies?"

Loud whistling and cheering could be heard then. Up ahead, Felicity could see the orange flames of the bonfire. Her heart skittered in her chest, but she couldn't tell if it was panic or excitement.

"We're right here with you." Iris squeezed her arm supportively. "If it's seriously lame, we'll leave."

"But you have to give it a real chance," Sara added.

Felicity bit her lip.

The closer they got, the clearer everything became. There on the sand was a giant bonfire, the flames reaching what looked like twice her height. Around it, logs were set up, riddled with people. Some were drinking out of red cups, others were roasting marshmallows or hot dogs. On one side, a boy from Felicity's chemistry class was strumming a guitar while he flirted with Philip, his lap partner.

"Hey! You made it!" Tommy appeared in front of them, smiling widely, his cheeks a little rosy. "Drinks are over there. Food's anywhere you can find it. I think we had some chips laying around somewhere… Somebody brought hot dogs, but I couldn't tell you _who_ …" His brow furrowed. "Wouldn't recommend swimming, the water is _freezing._ Cisco already attempted a polar bear swim. I think Snow is huddling with him to ward off hypothermia. Either that or they're just cuddling. I didn't ask. Oh, and we've got a midnight fireworks show, courtesy of Ramirez, if he'd ever answer my texts… He's making me feel like a clingy girlfriend and I'm not here for it." He clapped his hands together then and looked from Felicity to Iris to Sara. "Anyway, can I get anyone anything?"

"Where are the drinks?" Sara wondered.

He pointed at a blue cooler sitting in the sand, the lid half off. "We've got everything from Pepsi to tequila. Take what you like."

"Will do." Grinning, she wandered off.

"West," Tommy greeted Iris. "Can we at least agree that if you publish anything on tonight, you keep the names to a minimum?"

Iris snorted. "This hardly rates as news, Merlyn. But if I need a fluff piece, I'll only mention you and your superb hosting skills."

"Deal." He turned back to Felicity then. "Oliver's down by the water with a few of the guys. They were playing football until someone threw it into the water." He raised a hand to his chest and spread his palm over his heart. "It will be missed."

Felicity rolled her eyes lightly.

Sara reappeared then, passing around a few cans of soda before she pulled a bag of marshmallows out of the pocket of her hoodie. "Look what I found!"

"Any chocolate and graham crackers?" Felicity hoped.

"I've got you covered," Tommy said, darting away before returning with just that. He joined them as they made their way to the fire, grabbing a couple sticks out from where they were sticking up from the sand, already carved into points. Together, the four of them shared two sticks, one with a prong at the end to roast two marshmallows at a time.

"Think I might be the odd guy out here," Tommy said.

"We can share while we make a fourth," Felicity offered.

"I like the way you think, Smoak."

When the marshmallows were roasted to a golden brown, they were plucked from the fire and slid between a sandwich of chocolate and graham cracker. Felicity broke hers in half and offered one side to Tommy, who popped it in his mouth and quickly regretted it. "Hot!" He fanned his mouth. "Hot, hot, hot!" He cough-laughed and crumbled graham cracker tumbled down his chin.

Laughing, Felicity shook her head and offered him her can of pop.

He took it, knocking back a gulp to douse the heat. When he was done, he pulled a face. Glancing at the Coke can, he told her, "Not a good flavor combination."

"No?"

"Wouldn't recommend it."

"I guess next time you'll just have to pace yourself."

He huffed a laugh. "I'm pretty much marshmallowed out. But I think I know a guy who isn't…"

Her brow furrowed, but then Tommy was waving someone over. She turned to see Oliver jogging across the sand to meet them.

"You came," he said, grinning.

Felicity stared up at him, a little wide-eyed. "Uh, yeah." She motioned over her shoulder. "I brought Iris and Sara, too."

He raised a hand in a wave. "Hey."

"Hi," they chorused back.

Returning his attention to Felicity, he glanced at the treat in her hand. "S'mores?"

She shrugged. "Waste of a fire if you don't make a s'more."

"Not a bad motto to live by."

"Here," Iris said, holding her stick out. "We're done. So, you can have one too, if you want."

"Thanks." Oliver took the outstretched stick, a white marshmallow already stuck on top. He motioned to the fire and looked at Felicity. "I don't think I've done this since I was a kid. Got any tips?"

She nodded. "I can show you."

While they stepped up to the fire, Sara, Iris and Tommy coincidentally disappeared, leaving them alone.

Felicity held her own marshmallow over the fire and then nodded to him. He mimicked her.

"I wasn't sure you'd come," he admitted.

"I wasn't either."

He raised an eyebrow at her curiously.

"I don't usually go to parties. It's not really my scene. Not that I really have a scene. Unless Big Belly Burger counts as one."

"I don't think it does…" He half-smiled. "We can call it a hangout if that'll make you feel better."

"It might." She glanced up at him. "At least there's no cocaine. Or I haven't seen any. To be honest, when I think of cocaine it usually involves razor blades and mirrors. But that's probably a Hollywood version of it, right?"

Oliver blinked at her. "You were expecting cocaine?"

"Iris mentioned a party at Carter Bowen's place. Like I said, my experience with parties is kind of limited."

"Well, I can't say for sure someone isn't snorting something… I know Randy brought pot, but he always does, party or not. Trixie has shrooms, but we have a rule about not getting too high when fire's involved."

"A good rule of thumb."

He glanced at her. "So s'mores then, that's more your style?"

"S'mores, movies, paintball… I'd usually be at Big Belly or hanging out at Sara's. PJ party and horror flicks, that's my kind of Friday."

"Yeah? We have a big screen in the rec room; it's great for movies… What qualifies as PJ's in your books?"

She tipped her head. "What do you usually wear to bed?"

He grinned at her. "Not a lot."

"Oh." Her face flushed. "You don't get cold at night?"

He chuckled. "I run hot."

"I noticed."

His brows hiked.

Felicity flinched and shook her head. "I said I _didn't_ notice, right?"

He shook his head.

Laughing awkwardly, she looked away. "Oh, your marshmallow's on fire."

"What?"

She reached out and pulled at his arm until his stick was brought out of the fire, where a black hunk of burnt marshmallow had swallowed the end of the stick.

He stared down at it. "Any chance you've got more?"

"I think Sara stole the bag." She shrugged. "I'd say we can share mine, but it burned, too." She tossed her stick onto the fire. "We might have to pick up this s'mores lesson later."

Tossing his own stick on the fire, he dusted his hands off. "I'll try to pay better attention next time." Turning to her, he asked, "What can I do for extra credit until then?"

She bit her lip. "Take a walk with me?"

He held his arm out. "Lead the way, Red Riding Hood."

Felicity glanced down at herself and the red, hooded jacket she was wearing. "Ha, ha. What does that make _you_ then?"

His mouth turned up in a grin. "The big bad wolf."

They made their way down to the water's edge and walked along the damp sand, slowly putting distance between them and everyone at the bonfire. Felicity would like to say that was the night she received her first kiss. That at some point, their hands bumped together and their fingers just found a way to tangle together like some cheesy rom-com. Instead, she felt every brush of his arm against her own. They talked about school and family and the trip his family was planning for Christmas. She told him about how she and her mom celebrated Hannukah each year. And sometimes they didn't talk. Sometimes they just walked in silence, listening to the noises of the woods around them. She felt anticipation bubble up inside her. A want for something that seemed very much in reach. He was right there. Close enough to touch or kiss or _something_. But her courage never got that far.

By the time the sandy beach ran out, they were far enough away from the bonfire that she couldn't hear or see it. Their path was lit with nothing but a three-quarter moon; its pale glow seemed to highlight every dip and plane of his too-handsome face. They turned around and started their way back and, when she slipped in the wet sand, he reached for her, his hand curving around her far hip to hold her steady. Felicity leaned into him, letting him pull her a little closer.

"Aren't you cold?" she wondered, looking at the short-sleeves of his shirt.

He shook his head. "I like it like this."

"It's _November_ ," she reminded.

He shrugged and she felt a stroke of his thumb against her side, his arm warm against her back. "Are you cold?"

Not now, not with his body heat leaching off him and soaking into her side. "I'm okay."

"You sure?" He rubbed his hand over her arm as if to warm her and she smiled.

"Really." She looked up at him. "How late do these parties usually last?"

"Ready to head home?"

"No, just wondering."

"Depends on the party, I guess. If it gets too late, Will or Helena usually come down to tell us to pack it in."

"I guess we wouldn't know if they did, not from this far away."

"If the bonfire's out and everyone's left, I'll walk you home."

"Chivalry's alive."

He laughed lightly. "So, how'd you like the party?"

She smiled. "The company wasn't bad."

He looked down at her, hit mouth tugged up at the corner. "Does that mean I can convince you to come to another one?"

"Maybe."

They walked the rest of the way back to the bonfire chatting about this or that, about school and football, and what the wanted out of life. His hand never left her hip, his arm pressed warm to her back. It wasn't definitive. It wasn't a kiss or a class pin. But it was something, and it was full of possibility. The kind of possibility she'd been careful not to think about before. Because this, whatever this was and wherever it was leading, didn't fall so easily into the platonic box anymore. And that, well, that was kind of exciting.

* * *

 ** _Present_**

* * *

When Felicity came out of her memory, she found her bedroom swamped in darkness. Night had fallen without her notice, leaving her in a room blanketed in shadows. Sighing, she reached for the lamp on her desk and flicked it on. Looking down at the objects laid out in front of her, she frowned. There was a bittersweet energy to it all. A fondness for what was, overshadowed by the grief of it all. She laid the necklace down on her desk and rubbed her thumb across the chain. There was a time when she couldn't imagine taking it off. Couldn't remember what her neck looked like without it. Things had been so new and hopeful then. Filled to the brim with a potential she could only dream of. As quickly as it had entered her life, it had left. Taking with it too many and too much.

Felicity drew the picture closer to her. Tommy and Oliver, arms slung around each other, smiling wide for the camera. Handsome and happy. Young and worry-free. On top of the world at only fifteen. Her eyes stung with the memory of their voices, their laughter, their gentle teasing. For a time, she'd spent every Wednesday with them. She'd slipped into their lives, carved out a little space for herself there, and struck up a friendship. Five months. That was all she got. Come February, it all crumbled, burned to ash that would never wash away. And all she had to show for it was a book, a picture, a necklace, and a lifetime of nightmares.

Oh, and a ghost.

A ghost with an ominous message.

' _You aren't safe… Nothing is what it seems.'_

Whatever that meant.

All Felicity knew for sure was that Oliver Queen was dead. She'd seen it with her own eyes. She'd dreamt it, over and over again, crying out in the dead of night, swamped with the memories of that fateful night. He was dead and gone and she was… Well, she wasn't sure what she was. She'd been attacked by some unknown animal and now she was having strange visions of the dead.

Sighing, she shoved everything back in her desk. Tomorrow, she would go to class. She was _not_ going to visit the mansion. Because ghosts didn't have the answers to her questions. Ghosts weren't real. She was just stressed, that was all. Things had been hectic and strange lately.

Speaking of…

Felicity dropped her hand down to her side, where she could feel the bandage through her shirt. Rolling off her bed, she made her way to the bathroom. She needed to clean out her wound and rewrap the whole thing. The last thing she needed now was for it to get infected. She had enough on her plate.

Dragging her shirt off, she tossed it toward the laundry basket and reached down, slowly picking the tape off her skin, wincing at the pull against her skin. She peeled away the bandage, the inside of it dark with dried blood, and folded it up to throw in the garbage. While she got out a cloth and some antiseptic, she glanced up at the bathroom mirror, and paused. Frowning at herself, she reached down, gently probing her side, her skin stained a reddish brown. But, that was all there was. The torn open skin of her wound was nowhere to be seen.

Wetting the cloth with warm water, she rubbed at her side, cleaning it all away. Only to find smooth skin, slightly reddened, as if irritated, but no open cuts to be seen. Which was… _impossible_. The blood was enough to prove that she'd been hurt. She'd been _bitten_. Only now there was no evidence to tell that story. Felicity skimmed her fingers down her unblemished side, her heart pounding in her chest.

 _What the hell did this mean?_

* * *

 **tbc**

* * *

 **note** : _i'm so sorry about how long this update took. i caught a really awful flu shortly after i posted the first chapter, which held on for like a month, and i've been in practicum since the beginning of may. between practicum, work, and the flu, i've just been so tired that i really had no time or energy to work on anything. but, i finally sat down to edit this and get it out. i had to break up the flashback because it actually did cover her entire history with oliver but it was too long. hence, we'll see more of their history in the next chapter._

 _i do hope this makes up for the severe lack of oliver in the first chapter. i really just wanted to flesh out felicity's character, as well as her friendships with sara and iris, before we jumped into things between felicity/oliver._

 _thank you all so much for reading. these chapters are all pretty intensely long and a lot happens here. let me know what you think!_

 _thank you for reading!  
_ **\- Lee | Fina**


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